The Block
Quick Take The launch of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentencing, the halving, Hamster Kombat’s Telegram clicker game craze, President-elect Donald Trump’s crypto crusade and an FBI warning were among the top stories of the year.
Quick Take Overall, the S&P 500 has appreciated 25% year-to-date while the price of bitcoin has risen nearly 111%. Here are the best and worst performers among U.S.-traded crypto-related stocks in 2024.
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw $338.4 million in net outflows on Tuesday.This marks the fourth straight day of net outflows from U.S. spot bitcoin funds.
Quick Take South Korea’s financial watchdog reportedly discovered that Upbit approved hundreds of thousands of accounts without proper ID verification. Upbit, the largest crypto exchange in South Korea, processed more than $48.2 billion in crypto transactions in October.
Quick Take The Hong Kong Monetary said two overseas crypto firms have misrepresented themselves as banks, which may “constitute a contravention of the Banking Ordinance.” The HKMA, however, did not disclose the names of the two firms.
Quick Take Donald Trump has nominated the former presidential candidate and pro-bitcoin ex-Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Trump’s top team includes an array of crypto advocates such as VP-elect JD Vance, Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth and the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-leads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Quick Take U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $400.67 million in outflows on Thursday, ending a six-day streak of positive flows. Ark’s and Bitwise’s ETFs both saw their largest single-day outflows since inception.
U.S.-based spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen outflows totaling nearly $1.2 billion over the past three trading days, the longest outflow streak since the re-election of Donald Trump in November. Ethereum ETFs have traded mostly sideways over the same period, seeing a net outflow of merely $5 million over the past three trading days.
Quick Take Prosecutors recommended reducing Lichtenstein’s sentence due to his cooperation in his investigation and other crypto-related probes. Lichtenstein’s wife and co-conspirator Heather “Razzlekahn” Morgan’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 18.
Quick Take Jay Clayton, who was the chair of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2017 to 2020 under Trump’s previous administration, was nominated on Thursday. During his time at the SEC, Clayton brought the infamous case against Ripple.
