Since the market went bloody again a day ago, I have been keenly following all crypto market trends so as to keep abreast of the happenings within the crypto space. Here is a rundown of the top news as we enter the weekend.
First up: those Silk Road Bitcoins are on the move. The U.S. government is actually trying to sell $6.44 billion worth of seized Bitcoin. They're not just sitting on it-their DOJ got approval to liquidate 69,370 BTC. It is an interesting time because all this came out just before Trump's inauguration. Trump has actually been pretty vocal about wanting to keep America's Bitcoin and build a reserve, with Senator Cynthia Lummis backing this plan in the Senate. But here's the thing - the Federal Reserve chair Powell already said they can't legally store BTC, though Congress is looking at bills to change that. With Trump's swearing-in just 11 days away at the time of this news, everyone's watching to see if Biden's administration will rush to sell off that Bitcoin stockpile before the transition.
Over in Europe, they've finally gotten their act together with crypto regulations. MiCA was up and running on December 30th, 2024. That is enormous, given that until MiCA came into existence, it was a mere jungle of different rules in different countries. Now all 27 EU countries are playing with the same rulebook. Meanwhile, Trump's team is gearing up to make America the crypto capital of the world, bringing in Silicon Valley veteran David Sacks and Bo Hines to lead the charge.
Cleaning up in mining at 10,097 BTC in their treasury, all self-mined, CleanSpark made big moves in the mining world. CleanSpark had one heck of a month in December 2024 with 668 BTC mined. Really, that was a brilliant plan-to get their hands on GRIID Infrastructure and seven facilities from Knoxville. It's the place to be for miners now, especially considering the trade of Bitcoin for $94,287 as of January 9th, 2025.
Ethereum has had a tough time of late, however. The cryptocurrency is 20% off its high in December, and ETF outflows aren't helping matters - with $159 million leaving the door on Wednesday, after $86 million did so the day prior. These ETFs have pulled in a total of $2.5 billion in 2024, but the recent spike in exchange balance to 15.85 million ETH isn't a good indicator.
2024 was brutal in the security scene: $3.01 billion lost to hacks and scams, up 15% from 2023. DeFi got hit the hardest, including some nasty hits such as DMM Bitcoin losing $320 million and PlayDapp getting hit for $290 million. Those pig butchering scams alone took $3.6 billion, most on Ethereum.
But 2025 started off with an interesting plot twist, wherein Moby got hacked off for $2.5 million, yet whitehat hacker Tony Ke was able to recover $1.5 million. All of that was made possible through the leak in the private key, but Ke turned it around thanks to his MEV bot being quick-thinking. Moby's promised to make things right with its users.
And the cherry on top: Trump's sentence was an unconditional discharge, which means he will still be president and will not serve time or pay fines, though the conviction will go on record.
This is a fast-moving market, with such developments going a long way toward dictating where crypto goes next. Keep your eyes on these stories, as they are far from over.
All images are AI generated.
