1. Review of hot topics this week:

1.1. SEC sets the update deadline for spot Bitcoin ETFs as December 29

On December 26, Reuters reported, citing a public memo and two people familiar with the matter, that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had set a deadline for spot Bitcoin ETF applicants to submit final S-1 amendments by December 29. .

SEC officials reportedly met on Dec. 21 with representatives from at least seven companies hoping to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF in early 2024. Some of the attendees at these meetings include representatives from BlackRock, Grayscale Investments, ARK Invest and 21 Shares. Regulators told attendees that any issuer that does not complete an S-1 amendment by the Dec. 29 deadline will not participate in the first batch of potential Bitcoin ETF spot approvals in early January.

On December 27, Grayscale filed another revised S-3 document aiming to convert its GBTC into a spot Bitcoin ETF. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart pointed out that Grayscale has made a compromise and may accept the SEC’s cash-only creation/redemption requirement.

1.2. Mt. Gox creditors may be receiving repayments denominated in Japanese yen

On December 26, according to Cointelegraph, Mt. Gox’s creditors stated on Reddit that Mt. Gox’s creditors began to receive payments in legal currency. Mt. Gox recently sent refunds denominated in Japanese yen to users via PayPal. The funds were locked on the exchange on February 24, 2014, for nearly ten years.

According to previous news on November 22, Mt. Gox is planning to start repaying creditors with cash in 2023 and may continue until 2024. Nobuaki Kobayashi, the trustee of the exchange, said in an email that due to the large number of creditors, the specific repayment time has not yet been determined, therefore, it is impossible to notify each creditor in advance of the specific repayment time. Creditors can check their repayment status in their claims file system.

Founded in 2010, Mt. Gox became the world's largest Bitcoin trading platform by 2013, but stopped all withdrawals in early 2014 and filed for bankruptcy protection after losing more than 800,000 Bitcoins.

1.3. Bitcoin miners’ income exceeded US$1.55 billion in December, close to the historical high in April 2021.

According to data from Dune, Bitcoin’s security budget (that is, the revenue earned by miners to ensure network security) has exceeded $1.55 billion this month. That figure is only about $400 million below the all-time high of $1.96 billion set in April 2021.

1.4. Binance announced Launchpool’s 42nd project Sleepless AI (AI)

On December 26, Binance New Coin Mining has now launched the 42nd project - - Sleepless AI (AI). A Web3+AI game platform.

Sleepless AI is an AI blockchain-based virtual companion game that leverages AIGC and LLM to create rich story-based gameplay and organic interactions with characters. What’s interesting about the project is that two “virtual companion” games (virtual boyfriend and virtual girlfriend) were developed using AI, a currently popular technology. This use case has moved away from the pure encryption field and is more "out of the circle" oriented. The gameplay is similar to a Web3 version of Love Plus.

Binance users can invest BNB, FDUSD, and TUSD into the AI mining pool on the Launchpad website after 08:00 on December 28, 2023 (Eastern Eighth District time) to obtain AI rewards. The AI can be mined for a total of 7 days. The website is expected to be updated within approximately twenty-four hours of this announcement, updated before mining activity opens.

Binance will list Sleepless AI (AI) at 18:00 on January 4, 2024 (Eastern Eighth District time), and open AI/BTC, AI/USDT, AI/BNB, AI/FDUSD, AI/TUSD and AI/ TRY trading market, seed tag trading rules apply.

1.5. MicroStrategy buys Bitcoin again, and the stock price rises 11%

On December 27, MicroStrategy announced that it had purchased an additional 14,620 BTC at an average price of $42,110. This purchase brings their Bitcoin holdings to 189,150 BTC at an average cost of 31,168. Unrealized benefits now stand at a staggering $2.3 billion.

Stimulated by this news, MicroStrategy's stock price rose 11% to $670. It has risen 314% so far this year, beating Bitcoin's 163%.

1.6. StepN team’s new chain game “Gas Hero” will be launched on January 3

Find Satoshi Lab, the developer of 2022's popular move-to-earn game StepN, announced on July 10 this year that it will launch its second game - "Gas Hero".

One month after this Web3 game began internal community testing on November 27, Find Satoshi Lab’s CGO Johnny announced on X on December 27 that “Gas Hero” will be officially launched on January 3, 2024. The game will not issue new tokens, but will use the StepN native token GMT to support the required game scenarios and will be deployed on the Polygon chain.

1.7. India will block Binance, Kraken and other exchanges in cryptocurrency crackdown

On Thursday, December 28, India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) announced that it had requested an effective ban on nine cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, including Binance and Kraken.

The exchanges were operating illegally in India as they were neither registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit nor complied with national anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations, the agency, which regulates suspicious financial activities, said in a statement.

Therefore, the Financial Intelligence Unit requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India to block the websites of these exchanges (Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitsamp, MEXC Global and Bitfinex) ，Until further notice.

2. Projects to be unlocked next week:

3. Recent key events:

January 1 (Monday)

The world's major financial markets will be closed for one day due to the New Year's Day holiday

January 2 (Tuesday)

The final value of the Markit manufacturing PMI in the United States in December

January 3 (Wednesday)

U.S. ISM manufacturing index in December

January 4 (Thursday)

U.S. ADP employment changes in December (10,000 people)

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time in the United States in the week of December 30 (10,000 people)

January 5 (Friday)

U.S. unemployment rate in December

Changes in non-farm employment in the United States in December (10,000 people)

U.S. ISM non-manufacturing index in December