- December 29, 2024
- Category: Crypto, Weekly Crypto Digest
This week in crypto was packed with significant developments spanning institutional investments, regulatory shifts, and market trends. From MicroStrategy’s massive Bitcoin purchase to IRS updates on staking rewards taxation, the industry continues to evolve rapidly. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s exchange balances hit new lows on Binance, and over $7 billion in token unlocks are expected in January 2025.
Binance Bitcoin Balance Reaches Lowest Since January
At the end of December 2024, the number of Bitcoins on the Binance crypto exchange balance dropped below 570,000 BTC, which may indicate an increase in the BTC rate in the near future.
Note that according to CoinAnk, Binance’s bitcoin balance has indeed been mostly declining since mid-December 2024. On December 17, it reached 558,022 BTC, which is a new annual low.
The decline in reserves on Binance suggests that investors are confident in the long-term prospects of bitcoin, preferring to withdraw their assets from the exchange rather than keep them there for short-term sale.
if we take data from all centralized exchanges, they confirm the general trend of withdrawal of funds. Since the beginning of November 2024, the figure has decreased from 2.43 million BTC to 2.25 million BTC as of December 26.
CoinGecko Names the Most Popular Narratives in Crypto in 2024
The top three most popular narratives in 2024 in the crypto sphere include memecoins, AI-based projects, and tokenized real-world assets (RWA). This follows from a new report by the CoinGecko portal.
In the study, the authors took into account traffic from real users across different categories of projects on the site for the period from January 1 to December 21, 2024. According to the results, the memecoin segment was at the peak of popularity this year.
Montenegrin Court Rejects Do Kwon’s Appeal in Extradition Case
The Constitutional Court of Montenegro has rejected the appeal of the defense of former Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon against the Supreme Court’s verdict on his extradition. This is reported by local media.
According to known information, the court did not find any obvious violations of rights that could affect the decision to extradite the accused since the latter agreed to extradition to both countries – South Korea and the United States.
The decision on where Kwon will be extradited will be made by Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Bozovic.
It was previously reported that the country’s Ministry of Justice made the final decision on Do Kwon’s extradition, but later, it became known that the defendant’s defense filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court, which is why the process was stopped.
Recall that Do Kwon is wanted in both South Korea and the United States. He is under investigation for the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna in May 2022.
MicroStrategy Bought $561 Million in BTC
MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, purchased 5,262 BTC between December 16 and December 20, 2024. The investment cost $561 million with an average purchase price of $106,662.
As of December 22, 2024, the company controls 444,262 BTC with a purchase price of $62,257. Taking this into account, the firm’s portfolio valuation is $27.7 billion.
MicroStrategy’s unrealized profit, taking into account the current exchange rate, is $14.9 billion.
Bitcoin Outperforms Most Miner Stocks in Profitability
Bitcoin has gained 133.3% in 2024, according to TradingView. Despite this, only eight of the 25 largest miners are likely to close the year in the black.
The price of the first cryptocurrency rose from $40,000 to a new all-time high of $108,309 in November 2024.
However, most miners have failed to repeat this success. Only eight out of 25 companies monitored are likely to close this year in the black.
At the same time, three miners out of the top 10 have recorded a decline on the yearly (YTD) chart.
The drop in the quotes of most miners is due to a number of reasons, the main one being the fourth halving. It led to a reduction in the reward for each mined block to 3.125 BTC, which significantly affected the income of these companies.
The US Internal Revenue Service Announced Taxation of Staking Rewards
The decision of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was a response to a lawsuit by crypto investor Joshua Jarrett, who argued that the regulator should consider staking rewards as property, not income.
In October 2024, the man and his wife filed a lawsuit also seeking $12,179 in back taxes on 13,000 Tezos tokens earned in 2020.
The court countered that staking creates new property and said Jarrett must pay taxes on the value of the tokens when he receives them.
Over $7 Billion in Crypto Assets to Be Unlocked in January
$7.09 billion in crypto assets will hit the market in January 2025.
As you can see from the chart below, January 2025 is not a standout month. In November 2024, for example, $13.28 billion in crypto assets hit the market.
The largest unlocks include:
64.5 million SUI ($272.7 million) — January 1;
16.41 million JTO ($51.85 million) — January 7;
23.44 million CHEEL ($189.37 million) — January 10;
4.54 million APT ($40.53 million) — January 12;
64.41 million STRK ($30.09 million) — January 15;
93.65 million ARB ($70.25 million) — January 16;
1.94 billion ONDO ($2.86 billion) — January 18;
6.67 million GT ($102.71 million) — January 26.
Among the projects whose tokens will be unlocked, Ondo Finance stands out. On January 18, about 135% of the ONDO token circulating supply will hit the market.