🎉Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Finally Breaches $100K

Happy weekend Defiers!

Bullish momentum in the digital assets markets continued to dominate web3 news this week.

The price of Bitcoin broke above $100,000 for the first time, ranking it as the seventh-largest asset worldwide above Saudi Aramco and behind Google. The move coincided with more than $3 billion flowing into Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, including record inflows to Ether funds.

Bitcoin investors are now rapidly withdrawing BTC from centralized exchanges indicating they don’t plan to sell any time soon.

Bitcoin wasn’t the only cryptocurrency rallying to new heights, with BNB, TRX, and SUI each posting all-time highs, and FTM tagging its highest level since April 2022.

The DeFi sector is also enjoying a resurgence as asset prices rise, with DeFi TVL rising to a 31-month high. Fireblocks revealed that institutional DeFi volume on its platform tagged $60 billion to mark a 150% gain this year, while Ripple’s XRP Ledger is also hosting an emerging DeFi boom.

DeFi users are paying big to borrow stablecoins amid the rally, with APRs briefly rising above 20% to loan USDT and USDC using Aave and Compound.

Regulatory headwinds remain bullish as Trump readies to enter the White House for a second term in January.

Trump named Paul Atkins, a crypto supporter and advisor to the Digital Chamber of Commerce, as his preferred pick to head the SEC. Trump also appointed David Sacks, the founder of a VC firm with 10 web3 projects in its portfolio, to serve in the new role of White House AI & Crypto Czar. Coinbase’s policy chief described the incoming Congress as “the most pro-crypto ever.”

Grayscale became the fifth asset issuer to file for a spot Solana ETF. But just a couple of days later, the SEC reportedly revealed it will not entertain greenlighting any new spot crypto ETFs during Biden’s remaining time in office.

Memecoin mania remains in high gear, with recent Coinbase listings posting eye-watering gains. PancakeSwap v3 posted record daily volume after launching SpringBoard, a token launchpad competing with PumpFun. However, the launch of Hawk Tuah Girl’s memecoin sparked backlash after pre-sale buyers appeared to tank the token’s price by 90% upon launch.

NFTs are also performing well, with the sector’s sales count tagging a nine-month high. Pudgy Penguins gained 17% in 24 hours after announcing an upcoming token launch.

Plus, Florida plots Bitcoin reserve in Q1 2025, Instadapp proposed rebranding after blazing dApp launch, Ethereum overtook Tron by USDT market cap, and U.K. users were banned from accessing PumpFun.

Also, don’t forget to check out our podcast with Lido’s community staking lead, Dimitri Gusakov.

Enjoy!

DEFI ALPHA

We’ve revamped Alpha to help you fully embrace your inner degen and maximize your crypto gains!

New features include an exclusive Telegram group where our resident degens share real-time intelligence from the trenches, a biweekly Alpha call where you can chat directly with the DeFi Alpha newsletter authors, and additional content to help you stay on top of hot trends.

Just recently, we caught:

VOID at 3M (ATH 15M - 5x)
ALCH at 4M (ATH 100M - 25x)
SIMMI at 2.7M (ATH 40M - 15x)
VAIN at 250K (ATH 6M - 24x)

Previous wins:

ARMY on Ripple at 2M (ATH 100M - 50x)
KACY at 10M (ATH 85M - 8.5x)
LESTER at 4M (ATH 150M - 35x)
PNUT at 5M (ATH 2.2B - 440x)
ZEREBRO at 600K (ATH 600M - 1000x)
LUCE at 7M (ATH 300M - 42x)

What are you waiting for? Subscribe now and join the Telegram group!

THANKING OUR NEWSLETTER SPONSORS

| NEWSLETTER CONTINUES BELOW |

What would you build better? That's what Stellar asks in their new initiative.
Share your vision of better futures for finance, creativity, access and more for a chance at a $30K USD prize pool. The top submissions will be used for inputs for the Stellar developer community to build products with real-world impact

PODCAST & INTERVIEWS

How Lido is Making ETH Staking Easier and More Decentralized | Dmitry Gusakov, Community Staking

In this week’s podcast, Cami Russo was joined by Dimitri Gusakov, the community staking lead at Lido.

Gusakov discusses the protocol’s efforts to enhance decentralization and accessibility in Ethereum staking. He explains the launch of the Community Staking Module, which lowers barriers for individual validators while addressing concerns about centralization within the Ethereum ecosystem. The conversation also explores potential impacts of proposed Ethereum staking changes and Lido’s roadmap for further decentralization in 2025. Tune in to gain insights into the evolving landscape of liquid staking and its role in securing Ethereum.

Crypto's User Problem Fixed? How Layer3 Cracked the Growth Code

The Defiant sat down with Brendon Kumar, the co-founder of Layer 3.

The project was launch in 2021 with the mission of connecting crypto protocols with users through a two-sided marketplace. Layer 3 allows protocols to efficiently distribute token rewards to users based on specific on-chain actions, claiming user retention of 60% — compared to less than 10% with traditional airdrops. The platform currently serves 32 chains and 600 apps, hosting 500,000-700,000 monthly active users.

Looking ahead, Layer 3 aims to become the largest consumer-facing crypto product by expanding into trading infrastructure and building what Kumar calls a "chain-agnostic super app" that combines earning, trading, and discovery features.

Friday

USDT Market Cap Soars To Record With Ethereum Crossing Tron as Main Hub Ethereum is reclaiming dominance over the market cap of USDT.
Altcoin Season Begins as BTC Dominance Plummets Ethereum has cleared $4,000 and DeFi tokens are rallying against BTC.
Florida Considers Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in Early 2025 Florida could invest in Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, potentially using 1% of its surplus to buy BTC.
Coinbase’s Memecoin Frenzy Continues TURBO and GIGA surged after listing on Coinbase.
Pudgy Penguin NFTs Soar on Token Plans Pudgy Penguins trade volume is up 383% in response to new of a upcoming token.
Solana Developers Propose Block Limit Increase to Boost Performance Many Solana developers are in favor of raising block limits.
BNB Hits All-time High as Chain Activity Picks Up BNB trade volume is at its highest level since March.
United Kingdom Bans Pump.Fun U.K. residents can no longer use PumpFun, the bubbling memecoin launchpad.
Trump Names David Sacks As Crypto and AI Czar Sacks founded a VC firm that has invested in at least 10 web3 firms.
Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs Attract Massive Inflows, Fueling Investor Confidence Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs hosted inflows of more than $3 billion combined this week.
SEC Is Reportedly Readying To Shoot Down Solana ETF Applications The SEC said it will not greenlight any new spot crypto ETFs under the Biden administration.

Thursday

Bitcoin on Exchanges Plunges as Investors Shift to Self-Custody Bitcoin investors are withdrawing BTC from exchanges, indicating they don’t plan on selling any time soon.
Adidas and STEPN Unveil Sneaker Drop The limited-edition sneakers will be available later this month, marking a significant move from digital to physical goods for STEPN.
SUI Rallies to All-time High SUI is one of the top performers in the last 24 hours after jumping 12%.
Liquid Staking Drives DeFi TVL to Highest Level Since April 2022 Growth in liquid staking, lending and yield farming pushed DeFi total-value locked to cross $200 billion.
Hawk Tuah Girl’s Memecoin Crash Sparks Insider Trading Accusations HAWK dipped by over 90% just minutes after its launch.
Crypto Market Cap Approaches $4 Trillion as Bitcoin Breaches $100,000 Fueled by $550 million of ETF inflows, BTC surged to an all-time high of $103,680.
A16z Predict AI Agents, DUNAs, and Tokenization Will Drive Crypto Innovation In 2025 The rise of AI agents, new forms of decentralized organization, and the tokenization of new asset classes are among the narratives a16z staffers are watching for in 2025.
Avalanche Daily Fees Surge Ahead of Etna Upgrade AVAX is up 127% in the past 30 days.
Bitcoin Rallies Above $100K, Marking Gains Of 333.4 Million Times Since 2010 The price of Bitcoin has broken into the long-fabled six-figure threshold.

Wednesday

Solana Stablecoin ISC Money to Shut Down Operations The company failed to find product-market-fit after two years.
PancakeSwap Takes on Pump.fun with Token Launchpad SpringBoard PancakeSwap is the latest project looking to capture market share from PumpFun.
Solana Makes Move To Enable Real-Life Payments With SOL Token Latest integration allows users to make crypto payments with Google and Apple Pay.
Ether Soars 7% as Bitcoin Reclaims $98,000 Crypto trading volumes on centralized exchanges hit an all-time high of $10.4 trillion in November.
Magic Eden Airdrop Checker Leaves Users Frustrated The multi-chain NFT marketplace is forcing users to download a mobile app to check their airdrop eligibility.
Tron Surges to New All-Time High Tron’s market cap soared to $32.5 billion, more than double its previous record high.
Gifto Mints and Dumps $8.6 Million Worth of Tokens After Binance Delisting The GFT token is down 75% in the last seven days.
Fireblocks Reveals 150% Annual Increase In Institutional DeFi Transactions Fireblocks’ institutional users executed more than $60 billion worth of DeFi transactions this year.
DeFi TVL Soars To Record High Above $200B The milestone follows growth of 82% since September, driven by the Ethereum, Solana, Tron, Base, and Bitcoin.
Instadapp Proposes Rebrand and New Tokenomics Following Fluid Launch Fluid has processed more than $1 billion worth of volume three weeks after launching, ranking it as the third-largest DEX on Ethereum.

Tuesday

Ethena Partners With Derive, sENA Holders To Receive 5% of DRV Supply Derive, a decentralized options protocol, onboarded support for Ethena’s yield-bearing USDe stablecoin as collateral per the deal.
Aave and Compound Users Are Paying More Than 20% For Stablecoin Loans The sky-high stablecoin utilization rates indicate traders are accessing leverage to speculate on digital assets.
Bitcoin Recovers From U.S. Government Sell-off Panic IOTA, ONDO, FTM and TRX were the day’s top gainers.
Bitcoin Becomes Corporate Gold as MicroStrategy and MARA Double Down Major corporations are emulating MicroStrategy’s reserve asset strategy by ramping up Bitcoin accumulation.
Grayscale Files for Solana ETF The asset manager filed with the NYSE to convert its Solana Trust into a publicly traded ETF.
FTM Soars to Highest Level Since April 2022 Anticipation is building after Sonic, formerly Fantom, announced the blockchain's genesis block.
Donald Trump Names Paul Atkins as Preferred SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s replacement has been chosen and is a known crypto supporter.
Ripple DeFi Ecosystem Surges Memecoins and DeFi on XRP command attention amidst XRP’s parabolic rise.
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF About to Surpass Largest Financial Sector Fund at $50B AUM The asset is just nine spots away from the top thirty ETFs by AUM.
Vitalik Buterin Proposes New Standard For Ethereum Wallets The Ethereum founder follows up on his recent Devcon panel discussion with new ideas for wallets.

Monday

Ethereum Celebrates Beacon Chain’s Fourth Birthday Ahead of Overhaul Researchers believe the Beacon Chain needs to be overhauled to address centralization risks facing the network.
‘We Have The Most Pro-Crypto Congress Ever’: Coinbase Policy Chief Coinbase’s chief policy officer believes key regulations will easily pass through Congress during Trump’s second term.
DMM Bitcoin to Shut Down After Devastating Hack In other regional news, South Korea delayed introducing crypto taxes for the third time, while Indonesian crypto trading soars.
Ripple Soars on Regulatory Optimism while Crypto Market Slips XRP is staging an explosive rally while Bitcoin struggles.
Nike’s RTFKT NFT Project to Shut Down Operations The RTFKT team collected nearly $100 million in royalties since its launch in 2021, and investors are now calling it a rug pull.
Hyperliquid Dominates Crypto Derivatives Market After Airdrop The platform surpasses competitors including dYdX, SynFutures and ApeX Protocol, capturing about half of total daily trading volume.
NFT Sales Soar to Highest in Nine Months as Crypto Bull Run Heats Up Key collections like CryptoPunks and BAYC lead the resurgence, fueling optimism for a market revival.
Saylor Urges Microsoft to Buy Bitcoin The MicroStrategy co-founder claims the tech giant can significantly boost its share price and stakeholder value if it adds BTC to its treasury.
Fake Enron Announces Parody Crypto Relaunch With Viral Post 23 years after Enron filed for bankruptcy, the company claims to be making a web3 comeback.