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Trump-Backed World Liberty Financial Swaps Its cbBTC for WBTC After Sun Joins as Adviser

The swap took place Wednesday, the same day BiT Global lost a court case seeking to prevent Coinbase delisting WBTC.

World Liberty Financial, backed by the family of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, on Wednesday exchanged about $10 million worth of Coinbase’s (COIN) wrapped bitcoin, cbBTC, for rival WBTC.

Wrapped bitcoin is a form of the world’s largest cryptocurrency that can be used in decentralized finance (DeFi) on blockchains other than Bitcoin.

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Coinbase introduced cbBTC in September, and in November said it would delist WBTC, citing its listing standards. That action prompted BiT Global, a custodian involved in WBTC, to sue the crypto exchange to prevent the removal. A court ruled against BiT Global on Wednesday.

There’s one more link in the chain: Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain and one of CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2024. In its defense, Coinbase cited BiT Global’s links to Sun, who has been accused of fraud and market manipulation in the U.S., as an “unacceptable risk.” Sun, who denies the accusations, also became an adviser to World Liberty Financial, a position he gained after picking up a $30 million stake in the platform last month in exchange for WLFI tokens.

https://twitter.com/lookonchain/status/1869542379163934925

World Liberty Finance has not explicitly stated its decision to swap the tokens. On-chain data shows it has been active in the market in the past week, picking up millions of dollars worth of Aave (AAVE), Chainlink’s LINK and Ethena’s ENA tokens, all companies related to it through partnerships or integrations.

Sun has little to do with WBTC directly. In August, BitGo, the original and longtime custodian of the bitcoin backing WBTC, said it would distribute control over the project’s custody to three entities globally (including BiT Global) instead of just one to help decentralize the operation.

BiT Global is registered as a Trust and Company Service Provider (TCSP) in Hong Kong and is a “strategic partnership between BitGo, Justin Sun, and the Tron ecosystem,” according to the August release.

Sun has no direct or indirect involvement on the cap table of those companies or the listed shareholders of BiT Global, board member Robert Liu said in an October interview

Some board members believe Sun’s involvement is actually “good for WBTC,” he said, given the success of Tron, crypto exchange HTX and other businesses.

“The Tron blockchain has more than 50% of global market share,” Liu said. “They have the highest turnover rate. So people have no issue putting more than $60 billion of the stablecoin assets circulating on Tron blockchain.”

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U.S. Listed Spot Bitcoin ETFs on the Verge of Surpassing Gold ETFs

U.S. spot-listed bitcoin ETFs currently have an AUM of $120 billion compared to gold’s $125 billion.

The year 2024 has marked a significant breakthrough for digital assets, particularly for bitcoin (BTC), driven by increased institutional adoption. This shift has occurred through two key avenues: first, the integration of bitcoin into public balance sheets as a treasury asset, and second, the success of U.S. spot-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have amassed over 1 million BTC.

A report from K33 Research reveals that U.S.-listed bitcoin ETFs have surpassed U.S.-listed Gold ETFs in terms of assets under management (AUM), including leveraged products such as futures-based ETFs. As of Dec. 17, Bitcoin ETFs reached assets under management (AUM) worth $129.25 billion, edging out Gold ETF AUM at $128.88 billion, according to Vetle Lunde, analyst at K33 Research.

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However, when comparing spot-based products exclusively, Gold remains slightly ahead. According to Senior Bloomberg ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas, U.S. bitcoin spot ETFs hold $120 billion in AUM compared to $125 billion for Gold ETFs.

CME activity remains strong

The CME exchange, primarily used by institutions, continues to have strong activity, with futures open interest approaching new highs, with 212,635 BTC in open interest contracts.

According to the report, the basis trade premium has continued to rise, reaching 16.4% — the highest level since November 2023. This indicates that CME traders anticipate increased momentum as the year comes to a close.

The report notes, “January contracts are trading at sharp premiums relative to December contracts, with the contango widening to 1.5% on Monday — the highest next-month premium recorded since November 2023. The December contract on CME remains the most valuable, with open interest equivalent to 113,480 BTC. The upcoming December roll is expected to be significant, as several upcoming banking holidays may contribute to a further widening of the January premium.”

The momentum has continued for the past month, as the U.S. spot-listed bitcoin ETFs have seen net inflows every day since Nov. 27, totaling $6.5 billion, according to Farside data. It is important to note that as the basis trade premium continues to widen and with a growing amount of open interest contracts on the CME, a large portion of these net inflows are part of the cash and carry trade.

Disclaimer: This article, or parts of it, was generated with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

Bitcoin Miners Are Expected to be Profitable in December, Jefferies Says

November was a strong month for the miners as the rally in bitcoin outpaced the rise in the network hashrate, the report said.

BTC’s rise to record highs earlier this week is expected to allow miners to extend their November profitability into December, according to a report by investment bank Jefferies on Wednesday.

Bitcoin mining economics improved in November as the average price of bitcoin was 31% higher while the average network hashrate rose by almost 4%, the report said.

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The hashrate, representing the total computing power dedicated to a network, is a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty.

“Average daily revenue per exahash was $55,649, which represented a 20.7% month-on-month increase,” analysts Jonathan Petersen and Jan Aygul wrote.

U.S.-listed miners mined less bitcoin in November than the previous month, the bank said. Still, they mined more on a “network basis,” accounting for 24.7% of the total network.

The bank noted that uptime improved, which could be partly due to colder temperatures as winter approaches.

MARA Holdings (MARA) mined the most bitcoin, with 907 in November, and CleanSpark (CLSK) was second, with 622, the report noted.

MARA’s installed hashrate remained the largest in the sector at 46.1 exahashes per second (EH/s), followed by CleanSpark at 33.7 EH/s, the report added.

Read more: Bitcoin Mining Economics Continued to Improve in December, JPMorgan Says

Bitcoin Miner Hut 8 Buys $100M BTC Boosting Total Total Stash to $1B

The miner bought about 968 bitcoin for average price of around $104,258 each.

Another bitcoin miner, Hut 8 (HUT), has decided to pull the trigger on buying bitcoin in the open market, following the likes of MicroStrategy (MSTR) and MARA Holdings (MARA).

The Miami, Florida-based company said it bought about 990 bitcoin for an average price of $101,710 each. The latest purchase will bring the amount of bitcoin held in Hut 8’s reserve to 10,096, or about $1 billion in market value, and make it among the top 10 largest corporate owners of bitcoin, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

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The miner is planning to use the reserve through options strategies, pledges, sales or other strategies, according to the statement. Hut 8’s CEO, Asher Genoot, told CoinDesk that his firm will be opportunistic in buying more bitcoin in the open market.

“Today, the market recognizes and values our strategic reserve, which effectively lowers our cost of capital and strengthens our financial position. As long as this market dynamic persists, we will remain opportunistic in expanding our Bitcoin reserve,” Genoot said.

The move follows Hut 8’s announcement earlier this month that it started a new $500 million at-the-market share issuance program. At the time, the firm said some of the proceeds from the fund would be used to buy bitcoin in the open market, among other things.

MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin on its balance sheet, started the trend of buying bitcoin in the open market. It wasn’t until MARA Holdings’ purchase of bitcoin in the open market this year that this became prominent among the miners. Most recently, peer Riot Platforms (RIOT) bought 667 bitcoin at an average price of $101,135 on Dec. 16.

Buying large amounts of bitcoin in the open market has paid off for miners opening up new avenues of raising funds at a time when the industry is grappling with a profit squeeze after the recent Bitcoin halving event. Last month, MARA was able to raise $1 billion in convertible debts—a financial instrument where investors can convert debt into equity—with zero interest. This means investors are willing to let go of the interest income from the debt for the equities that provide them with exposure to bitcoin.

Hut 8 said holding bitcoin reserve serves as a flexible option for the firm that can help the company grow. “We view our strategic reserve as a dynamic financial asset that can be actively managed to drive returns well beyond simple price appreciation,” Genoot told CoinDesk.

“Together with the significant investments we are making to expand our core operating business—with a clear path to 24 EH/s of self-mining capacity by Q2 2025—strategic Bitcoin purchases in the open market can strengthen our balance sheet and ability to invest thoughtfully in growth,” he said.

Shares of Hut 8 have risen 74% this year, while CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) climbed 28%.

VIX’s Second-Largest Spike in History Indicates a Local Bottom for Bitcoin: Van Straten

The VIX jumped 74% yesterday after a 25bps rate cut and a hawkish outlook from Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Wednesday, Dec. 18, will go down in history as a day of market panic triggered by the 25 basis point Fed rate cut and Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish outlook.

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly tumbled below $100,000; U.S. equities dropped around 3%, while the dollar index (DXY) index soared to a two-year high of 108, which continues to put pressure on currencies worldwide.

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The most significant movement came from the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), which skyrocketed by 74%, marking the largest one-day jump in the Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge since Feb. 5, 2018. It was also the second-largest increase in its history. The VIX serves as a measure of market fear and expected volatility over the next 30 days.

Historically, significant spikes in the VIX have marked local bottoms for both bitcoin and the S&P 500.

Examining the top three one-day changes in the VIX, the first occurred on Feb. 5, 2018, when it surged by 116%. On that day, bitcoin plunged 16% to $6,891, which turned out to be a local bottom. By Feb. 20, prices had rebounded to over $11,000.

The second-largest spike in the VIX occurred on Dec. 18, registering a 74% increase.

The third biggest spike happened on Aug. 5, 2024, during the Yen carry trade unwind, when the VIX jumped 65%. On that occasion, bitcoin dropped 6% to hit a local bottom around $54,000 and climbed back up to over $64,000 by Aug. 23.

A similar pattern has consistently played out in the S&P 500 over the years, data shared by Charlie Bilello, chief market strategist at Creative Planning, show.

Let’s see if history repeats itself. At press time, BTC traded above $102,000 while the S&P 500 futures pointed to a positive open with a 0.37% gain.

Craig Wright Faces Demand for Two-Year Prison Sentence in Contempt-of-Court Case

COPA claims Wright’s attempt to sue for intellectual property rights related to bitcoin violate a July court order.

Craig Wright, who falsely claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin, is in court again.

This time, the Crypto Open Patent Alliances is arguing Wright’s attempt to sue for 900 million pounds ($1.1 billion) over intellectual property rights related to the Bitcoin system in October amounts to contempt of court after a judge ruled in March that he was barred from pursuing proceedings related to his claim to be Nakamoto.

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The two-day trial is due to end later Thursday and COPA, whose backers include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), is seeking a prison sentence.

“COPA proposes an order committing Dr Wright for an initial term of 18 months and a further term of six months in the event that he does not mitigate his contempt by promptly discontinuing the claims which breach the order,” COPA set out in its skeleton argument, court documents show.

In March, Justice James Mellor ruled that Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto. Mellor then issued a court order preventing Wright from pursuing proceedings in the U.K. and other jurisdictions related to the claim.

“Dr. Wright is perfectly capable, once the dust has settled, of ramping up his public pronouncements again,” Mellor wrote at the time.

Prior to COPA’s victory, Wright had brought several court cases against the bitcoin community around the bitcoin whitepaper, libel suits as well as claims against developers.

Razzlekhan’s Husband, the Bitfinex Hacker, Makes First Public Statement Since Arrest

In a video posted to X, Ilya Lichtenstein reiterates he acted alone in stealing 120,000 bitcoin, denying a Netflix documentary’s speculation.

Ilya Lichtenstein, who pled guilty last year to charges related to the 2016 theft of 120,000 bitcoin from Bitfinex, has made his first public statement since his 2022 arrest.

In a five-minute video posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Lichtenstein reiterated that he was the hacker and that he acted alone, denying speculation in a Netflix documentary that his father (or, perhaps, some spy agency, maybe Russia’s) might have been involved in the theft.

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“My dad is no hacker, he doesn’t even know how to use Instagram,” said Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering, including the time he was incarcerated after the arrest while the case was pending.

“I offer my sincerest apologies to Bitfinex for all the stress that I have caused them,” he said in the video, recorded from prison during a remote visit with his wife. “I knew what I was doing was wrong and I did it anyway because I didn’t care … I look back at the person I was then, and I hate myself. I hate myself.”

I have something to say#FreeRazzlekhan pic.twitter.com/9HIvOxcbgr

— Ilya Lichtenstein (@unrealdutch) December 19, 2024

In the video, Lichtenstein also provided an update on restitution for the funds he stole from Bitfinex.

“For the past three years, I have worked hard to account for and return all assets down to the last satoshi, as required by my plea agreement, and I will continue to do so,” Lichtenstein said, showing bags under his eyes.
A restitution hearing is set for February to determine whether they should be distributed to Bitfinex or to its customers who were affected by the hack.

Razzlekhan speaks

Lichtenstein’s wife, Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, pled guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Prosecutors said she became aware of the hack only years after the fact and was enlisted by her husband to launder the stolen bitcoin.

“In many ways, my wife … is just another victim of my bad decisions,” Lichtenstein said in the video.

Last month, Morgan was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her supporting role in Lichtenstein’s crimes.

“It’s nice to begin to have the public record surrounding our case set straight,” Morgan told CoinDesk, referring to the video her husband released. “You would think that would have happened after our sentencing memos got filed, but that really hasn’t been the case. There are so many myths that I look forward to debunking when we tell the real story.”

Best known for her goofy rap videos, Morgan recently began selling custom videos for $125 a pop on Cameo, a sort of non-pornographic version of Onlyfans. Her prison sentence could begin as soon as next month.

“Despite everything you’ve read, my Razzlekhan persona never had anything to do with this case, besides the government mentioning it in their charging documents. I created Razzlekhan years before I ever knew my husband had hacked Bitfinex,” Morgan told CoinDesk.

“While our criminal case was open, I was unable to speak publicly or tell my story,” she said. “This also meant I could not publish any articles or release any new artworks or songs the last three years. Now that the case is over, I look forward to freely expressing myself creatively again. … I am eager to tell the story of what really happened.”

Takes one to catch one

Atoning for his misdeeds in court, Lichtenstein said that after he serves his time he plans to pursue a career fighting cybercrime.

In Tuesday’s video, Lichtenstein reiterated that pledge.

“When I am released from prison … I plan to dedicate myself to working in the cybersecurity industry,” Lichtenstein said. “I know the cyber threats that we face and I know how to stop them.”

The bitcoin stolen in the 2016 hack was worth $70 million at the time and around $12 billion today.

The Netflix documentary leaves viewers with the impression that a substantial portion of the stolen funds remain missing, but according to Lichtenstein’s lawyer, this is not the case.

“With significant help from Mr. Lichtenstein, the government has recovered nearly all of the assets stolen during the 2016 Bitfinex hack,” the lawyer, Samson Enzer of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, told CoinDesk. “In total, approximately 114,601 BTC (representing 96% of the approximately 119,754 BTC taken in the hack) were recovered, as well as 29 additional assets with substantial value.”

The U.S. Department of Justice did not respond by press time to CoinDesk’s inquiry about the percentage of stolen funds that were recovered.

Founder of DeFi Giant Curve Gets Liquidated Again as CRV Slumps

Curve founder Michael Egorov played down the $882,000 liquidation on X.

Curve founder Michael Egorov was liquidated for 918.83K CRV ($882,000) after CRV fell by more than 12% over the past 24-hours.

The head honcho of the decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform suffered a series of mammoth liquidations earlier in 2024 after taking out loans to purchase CRV and bolster the price. $140 million in total was liquidated in June.

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“Many of you are aware that I had all my loans liquidated. Size of my positions was too large for markets to handle and caused 10M of bad debt,” Egorov wrote at the time.

The most recent of those purchases was worth $1.2 million on Dec. 17, at which point CRV was at trading at $1.11 before it tumbled to around $0.91 on Thursday.

Egorov took to X following Thursday’s liquidation, stating that the liquidated CRV was tied to the uWu hack in June and that the liquidation was simply a “receipt of Sifu’s [uWu’s founder] promise to repay the hacked funds.”

This didn’t prevent further selling, however, as CRV significantly underperformed against the CoinDesk 20 Index, which is down by 4.81% at the time of writing against CRV’s decline of 12%.

Total value locked (TVL) on the Curve platform is down from $3.5 billion on Dec. 16 to $3.25 billion on Thursday, although much of that can be attributed to dwindling asset prices.

More Than Half of Crypto Tokens Debuted in 2024 Were Malicious: Blockaid

As much as $1.4 billion was lost to crypto scams and fraud in 2024, Blockain said.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 19 DECEMBER 2024 @ 9:00 AM ET

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Blockchain security firm Blockaid said a full 59% of crypto tokens introduced this year were “malicious in nature.”

The number of nefarious tokens being sold into the open market ties in with the rising memecoin narrative that has been consistent throughout this cycle.

There are now 10 memecoins with a market cap of $1 billion or greater and this relative success has led to copycat tokens being launched on Ethereum, Base and Solana among other chains.

Rug-pull scams remain a prevalent threat, making up 27% of malicious tokens, Blockaid said.

It’s worth noting, however, that the amount lost to cryptocurrency hacks and scams shrank dramatically. The FBI said that in 2023, $5.6 billion was lost to crypto scams, while this year the total is $1.4 billion, according to Blockaid’s report.

Blockaid’s data stems from an on-chain detection and response (ODR) platform that processed 2.41 billion transactions, 780 million dapp connections, and 220 million tokens in 2024.

El Salvador to Shut or Sell Chivo Crypto Wallet as Part of $3.5B IMF Deal

The country’s concessions include that taxes must be paid in U.S. dollars, not bitcoin, and bitcoin acceptance will be made voluntary in the private sector.

El Salvador is in the process of securing a $3.5 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund, but is making some concessions around bitcoin (BTC) to get the funding.

Stacey Herbert, director of the Bitcoin Office in El Salvador, posted on Thursday that the government-issued Chivo wallet — launched in 2021 in a bid to spread bitcoin adoption across the country — will be “sold off or wound down” as part of the deal. Other bitcoin wallets operated by private companies will “continue serving El Salvador,” Herbert said.

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The IMF stated on Wednesday that, under the agreement, El Salvador will also make bitcoin acceptance by the private sector voluntary, and that taxes will only be paid in U.S. dollars (not bitcoin). “For the public sector, engagement in bitcoin-related economic activities and transactions in and purchases of bitcoin will be confined,” the document also said, without going into further detail.

Herbert, however, wrote in her post that El Salvador will continue to add bitcoin to its reserves — possibly, even, at an “accelerated pace.” The Central American nation is currently buying one bitcoin per day; at press time, it held 5,968.77 bitcoin, worth almost $596 million. Herbert said that many of El Salvador’s bitcoin-related projects, including the development of bitcoin capital markets and the offering of bitcoin educational programs, will continue to occur. The cryptocurrency’s legal tender status will likewise not be impacted.

The IMF has had misgivings about El Salvador’s bitcoin initiatives ever since President Nayib Bukele made bitcoin legal tender in the country in September 2021, giving it the same status as the U.S. dollar, the nation’s official currency. In 2022, the agency warned that El Salvador was incurring “large risks associated with using Bitcoin as legal tender, especially given the high volatility of its price.”

“The potential risks of the Bitcoin project will be diminished significantly in line with Fund policies,” the IMF stated on Wednesday.

Salvadorans were offered $30 in bitcoin to sign up on Chivo, but national adoption never really took off. By mid-2022, more than 60% of recipients had yet to make a transaction, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. A survey from the Central American University found in January that 88% of surveyed Salvadorans hadn’t used bitcoin in 2023.

The IMF itself will only provide $1.4 billion as part of the deal with El Salvador. Funds from the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and regional development banks are expected to bring the total amount to $3.5 billion as part of the same program.