Collapsed Ethereum treasury demand and stiff overhead resistance between $3,100 and $3,200 stood in the way of Ether’s recovery to $4,000. Ether’s (ETH) price traded at $3,077, up 17% above its local lows of $2,620 reached on Nov. 21. However, reduced treasury buying and overhead resistance delayed sustained recovery toward $4,000. Key takeaways: Ether treasury demand has collapsed 80%, raising concerns about their sustainability. Read more
Strategy is urging MSCI to retain MSTR in its indexes, despite raising its Bitcoin holdings to 650,000 BTC as it has lowered its 2025 targets. Michael Saylor’s Strategy is not giving up on efforts to keep its common A stock (MSTR) part of the MSCI indexes after the stock entered the MSCI World Index during the Bitcoin rally in 2024. Amid MSCI Global Standard Indexes holding consultations on whether to delete MSTR and other digital asset treasuries (DATs) from its indexes, Strategy’s Saylor said the company is communicating with the index provider about the issue, Reuters reported on Wednesday. “We’re engaging in that process,” the Strategy founder said, adding that he “was not sure” about the accuracy of JPMorgan’s reported estimations that a potential exclusion from the MSCI could trigger $2.8 billion of outflows. Read more
Binance’s new Junior app aims to bring supervised crypto use to minors, prompting both praise for early education and criticism of child targeting. Binance has launched Binance Junior, a parent-controlled crypto app for users ages 6 to 17, in a move that sparked debate over introducing digital assets to minors. The company announced Wednesday that Binance Junior is a standalone mobile app linked to a parent’s primary Binance account. The tool allows adults to deposit crypto, set spending and transfer limits and enable Earn products for their kids, depending on local regulations. Binance framed the new product as a family-focused financial literacy tool. It mirrors traditional custodial accounts, where children can hold assets while parents remain the legal owners and control permissions. Read more
The crypto industry in Japan is poised for a surge in growth among retail investors, observers say, as the government plans to introduce a moderate 20% tax. A new, more moderate tax on digital assets in Japan is projected to make crypto more appealing to retail investors. Lawmakers in the National Diet, Japan’s legislature, reportedly support a proposal from the country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), that would lower taxes on crypto. The rate would decrease from a maximum of 55% to 20%, aligning the taxation regime more closely with traditional assets and securities. Relaxing the tax code reflects a growing trend of the government moderating its stance toward crypto in Japan. From a relative gray zone to strict regulations, to becoming part of a national growth plan, the government has gradually recognized crypto as part of the financial industry. Read more
Corporate Ether acquisitions continue to decline, leaving the world’s largest corporate ETH holder to scoop up billions in Ether, aiming to amass 5% of the total supply. The Ethereum treasury trade appears to be unwinding as monthly acquisitions continue to decline since the August high, though the largest players continue to scoop up billions of the Ether supply. Investments from Ethereum digital asset treasuries (DATs) fell 81% in the past three months, from 1.97 million Ether (ETH) in August to 370,000 ETH in November, according to Bitwise, an asset management firm. “ETH DAT bear continues,” wrote Max Shennon, senior research associate at Bitwise, in a Tuesday X post. Read more
Author Neal Stephenson mapped out how uncensorable, cryptographic digital currency could work more than a decade before Bitcoin was invented. Author Neal Stephenson famously invented the term “Metaverse” with the publication of Snow Crash in 1992 a year before the World Wide Web or Doom even launched. But for crypto fans, his fictional depictions of early versions of Bitcoin more than a decade before it was invented are even better reasons to celebrate his work. In his 1995 novel The Diamond Age he described an anonymous peer-to-peer communication system that could transfer money. A short story he published in TIME that same year called The Great Simoleon Caper explored a private, cryptographic digital currency using private keys called CryptoCredits. His most in-depth work detailing a plan to set up money outside of the control of the state was the 1999 doorstopper opus Cryptonomicon, whose title was partly inspired by the Cyphernomicon FAQ. Read more
Georgia explores putting its public registry on the Hedera blockchain and tokenizing real estate through blockchain-integrated government infrastructure. Georgia’s Ministry of Justice has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the public blockchain network Hedera, as it considers moving the country’s land registry onchain and tokenizing real estate. According to a Monday announcement from the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, the government signed an MoU with Hedera, a public blockchain with permissioned node operation. At a meeting between the Minister of Justice of Georgia, Paata Salia, and a representative of Hedera, the two parties discussed the potential integration of blockchain technology into public infrastructure. Georgian officials said they are considering transferring data from the National Agency of Public Registry to the blockchain network, hoping this “would ensure even greater protection of property rights, transparency and reliability of processes.” Read more