'Bitcoin Senator' Lummis to Lead Senate Subcommittee on Digital Assets

Over $100 million USDT in assets has been frozen by the T3 Financial Crime Unit, a coalition led by Tether, Tron, and TRM Labs, to combat criminal activity within their networks. The group has worked with law enforcement globally to disrupt cybercriminals using stablecoins for illicit purposes.

AI agents, meme coins, and associated protocols are among the top-performing crypto assets, sparking speculation about AI becoming the latest trend for traders. Some believe it marks the start of a new crypto revolution, while others view it as a potential bubble.

Unity Software shares surged over 8% after Roaring Kitty, known for impacting markets with cryptic posts, shared a GIF referencing the company. The post also boosted a Unity-inspired meme coin on the Solana blockchain by over 200% in 24 hours.

E-Trade, acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2020, is considering adding crypto trading, potentially becoming a major player in the market, sources tell The Information. Traditional brokerages like Charles Schwab are also eyeing crypto trading pending regulatory approval from the Federal Reserve. Doing so would mean more mainstream financial giants entering a market currently dominated by the likes of Coinbase and other crypto native firms.

Kekius Maximus, a meme coin, experienced a 3,000% surge in market cap after Elon Musk changed his Twitter name to it. However, the token plummeted 67% when Musk reverted to his original profile, causing a crash.

Solana and XRP have surged by over 10% in the last 24 hours, with Solana hitting $209 and XRP reaching $2.41. Other altcoins like Cardano, Avalanche, Chainlink, and Stellar have also seen double-digit gains recently.

Bitcoin's price has rebounded to around $97,000, rising by over 3.4% in the last 24 hours. The recent drop below $100,000 was attributed to year-end tax-loss harvesting by investors, affecting Bitcoin ETFs and underlying assets.

Tether's USDT, the top dollar-pegged stablecoin, faced its steepest weekly market value drop in two years, raising concerns about market volatility. The decline was triggered by EU exchanges and Coinbase removing USDT due to MiCA regulations.

MicroStrategy's stock surged to an all-time high in late November but has since plummeted by nearly 40% to $290. Despite this, founder Michael Saylor continues to accumulate Bitcoin, with the company now holding over 444,600 coins.

Garanti BBVA Kripto, a crypto custody platform operated by BBVA, will offer crypto trading services to the public using Bit2Me as the trading execution center. With MiCA regulation in effect, more European banks are expected to follow suit in 2025.