1. U.S. Government Authorized to Liquidate $6.5 Billion in Silk Road Bitcoin link

The U.S. government has received approval to liquidate 69,000 Bitcoins (valued at $6.5 billion) seized from the “Silk Road” darknet market, a government official confirmed to DB News on Thursday. This development comes less than two weeks after a new administration took office, despite their earlier promise not to sell the Bitcoin.

On December 30, a federal judge ruled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) could sell the 69,370 Bitcoins, citing the cryptocurrency’s price volatility as a reason for granting the sale authorization. When asked about the next steps, a DOJ spokesperson stated, “The government will proceed with actions in accordance with the court’s decision.”

2. U.S. December ADP Employment Report: 122,000 vs. Expected 140,000 link

In December, the U.S. ADP employment change registered 122,000, falling short of the expected 140,000 and the prior value of 146,000. Initial jobless claims for the week ending January 4th came in at 201,000, better than the forecasted 218,000 and the previous week’s 211,000.

QCP analysis highlighted that Bitcoin retreated to the $95,000 support level following stronger-than-expected U.S. labor market data. JOLTS job openings surged to 8.1 million, significantly exceeding the anticipated 7.74 million. The unexpectedly robust job market has triggered risk-off sentiment, pushing long-term bond yields higher and leading to a sell-off in risk assets.

This week, market attention will focus on the Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting and the release of non-farm payroll (NFP) data, both of which are expected to play a crucial role in shaping Bitcoin’s price trajectory. As market expectations rise, QCP suggests that the recent Bitcoin pullback is merely a temporary pause in an overall uptrend, setting the stage for potential optimism tied to Trump’s upcoming inauguration.

3. Fed’s 2025 Committee Changes May Signal Policy Shifts link

The Federal Reserve’s 2025 composition includes two hawkish, one dovish, and one neutral voting member, which may influence policy direction. Analysts offer differing perspectives on the implications:

Bloomberg suggests that the divergence in voting members’ stances could lead to greater disagreements within the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Barron’s anticipates that the inclusion of more hawkish members may tilt the Fed’s 2025 decisions toward a tighter monetary policy.

Reuters warns that increased divisions among voting members could heighten risks in policy formulation.

The FOMC has scheduled eight meetings for 2025, to be held in January, March, May, June, July, September, October, and December. The evolving dynamics of the committee’s composition and potential policy divergence will likely be closely scrutinized by markets and policymakers.

4. Reuters: Trump to Introduce Pro-Crypto Policy on First Day in Office link

The cryptocurrency industry has been lobbying for Trump to issue executive orders within his first 100 days in office, aiming to establish a U.S. Bitcoin reserve, secure banking services for the sector, and form a cryptocurrency advisory council. The industry anticipates that at least one such order will be announced on January 20.

5. Canadian PM Trudeau Resigns; Pro-Crypto Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre Expected to Succeed link

On the 6th, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a press conference where he announced his resignation. He plans to remain in office until the Liberal Party elects a successor. Additionally, a prediction market shows an 87% probability that Pierre Poilievre will be elected as the next Prime Minister of Canada. Poilievre is a strong proponent of decentralized finance and cryptocurrency, advocating for the latter during his campaign as a means to hedge against inflation.

6. Czech Central Bank Governor Considers Bitcoin for Diversifying Forex Reserves link

In an interview with CNN Prima News, Aleš Michl, the Governor of the Czech National Bank (CNB), stated that the bank is considering acquiring a small amount of Bitcoin as part of a diversification strategy for its foreign exchange reserves. However, he emphasized that this would not be a significant investment decision. The decision must be approved by the seven members of the CNB’s board. CNB advisor Janis Aliapulios noted that the bank currently has no plans to include crypto assets in its reserves, but Michl did not rule out the possibility of discussing it in the future. Meanwhile, the CNB will continue to pursue its diversification strategy by purchasing gold, with plans to increase the proportion of gold reserves to 5% of total assets by 2028.

In its latest report, 2025 Look Ahead, Fidelity Digital Assets predicted that more sovereign nations, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and government finance departments will incorporate Bitcoin into their national strategic reserves in 2025. Analyst Matt Hogan pointed out that cases like Bhutan and El Salvador could trigger more countries to follow suit, and that failing to allocate Bitcoin might pose a greater risk than doing so. Additionally, Hogan forecasted that in 2025, digital asset custodial and management products will enter the mainstream, and the tokenization market for on-chain assets will grow from $14 billion to $30 billion.

7. Former PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan: Global Public Debt Nears $100 Trillion link

Zhou Xiaochuan, the former governor of the People’s Bank of China, recently pointed out at the “Boao Forum for Asia New Year Outlook 2025” event that great vigilance is required regarding the impact of digital encrypted assets on global financial stability and security. He mentioned that in 2025, the international economic recovery is fraught with uncertainties. Against the backdrop of an intensifying debt crisis, the global public debt is approaching $100 trillion, and emerging markets are under significant external financing costs and exchange rate pressures. Encrypted assets may play complex roles in this process, especially when effective supervision is lacking, potentially exacerbating systemic financial risks. Zhou Xiaochuan emphasized that at present, countries around the world need to strengthen cooperation in regulating encrypted assets on a global scale and refine the norms for digital currency trading behaviors.

8. MicroStrategy Acquires 1,070 BTC for $101 Million link

MicroStrategy has acquired 1,070 BTC at approximately $101 million, with an average price of $94,004 per coin. It achieved a 48.0% return on its BTC holdings in the fourth quarter of 2024 and a 74.3% return in the fiscal year 2024. As of January 5, 2025, MicroStrategy holds 447,470 BTC, with an average cost of $62,503 per coin and a total cost of around $27.97 billion.

9. Solana AI Hackathon Criticized as AI Token Speculation Arena, Market Cap Surpasses $500M link

Yash Agarwal, the curator of the Solana AI Hackathon and the founder of SendAI, lashed out at the Solana AI Hackathon for inadvertently turning into an AI token discovery platform, a veritable paradise for gamblers. He noted that currently, two or three hackathon projects launch tokens on a daily basis, quickly reaching a market capitalization of $50 million. In incomplete statistics, the cumulative market cap has exceeded $500 million. The current modus operandi is as follows: submit a project to get it listed in the Solana AI Hackathon project directory -> use the Solana AI Hackathon/SendAI as credibility endorsements -> launch tokens -> catch the attention of whales and KOLs -> drive up the market value to between $500 million and $5 billion. Degens believe they can unearth projects with 100-fold growth potential in the hackathon, thus making it a perfect speculative arena. Yash Agarwal advised Builders not to issue tokens just for the sake of it, especially when they don’t hold a sizeable proportion of the tokens. It’s easy to launch tokens, but managing them is no joke. When prices plummet, none of these communities, KOLs, or cliques will offer any help.

10. Vitalik’s Essay “d/acc: One Year Later” Explores AI Safety and Cryptocurrency Integration link

Three key topics were mainly explored: AI safety regulation, the role of cryptocurrencies in d/acc, and the financing of public goods.

AI Safety and Regulation: Firstly, establish an accountability system, imposing reasonable legal liabilities on AI users, deployers, and developers. Secondly, institute a global “soft pause” mechanism at the industrial-grade hardware level, which can reduce 90–99% of the global computing power when necessary.

Vitalik stated that the connections between d/acc and cryptocurrencies cover value extension, early adopter communities, technological applications, and technological complementarity. Many cryptographic technologies can be applied to the d/acc field, such as zero-knowledge proofs for privacy protection.

Public Goods Financing: Through innovative mechanisms like quadratic funding, retroactive funding, and in-depth funding, the sustainable development of important open-source projects and social public technologies is supported.

Fundraising

• Movement Labs announced that it is on the verge of finalizing a $100 million Series B funding round. link

• The crypto data platform SoSoValue declared the completion of a $15 million funding round. link

• ZKcandy has wrapped up a $4 million private placement financing. link

• AlloyX, a stablecoin infrastructure company, completed a $10 million Pre-A round of financing. link

• Haedal Protocol has concluded its seed round financing, with OKX Ventures among the participants. link

• Bluechip announced the completion of a €1 million seed round financing. link

• Rena Labs, a verifiable artificial intelligence company, declared the completion of a $3.3 million Pre-Seed funding. link

• Sol Strategies Inc. (CSE: HODL) announced the completion of a C$27.5 million private placement financing. link

• Starpower announced the completion of a new $2.5 million financing round, bringing its total funding to $4 million. link

• Nevermined, an AI payment infrastructure, announced the completion of a $4 million seed round financing. link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.

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