Bitcoin Price: US$ 96,628.93 (-0.77%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 3,628.25. (-2.26%)
Scammers are exploiting Telegram verification bots to inject malware that compromises crypto wallets, leveraging fake social media accounts and urgent “verification” requests to trick users into downloading malicious code. This scam, identified by Scam Sniffer, has caused multi-million-dollar losses and reflects a growing sophistication in phishing methods. Meanwhile, Bitwise predicts 2025 as the “Year of the Crypto IPO” with public launches from firms like Kraken and Circle. The firm also anticipates soaring Bitcoin and Ethereum prices driven by institutional adoption and tokenised asset growth, forecasting Coinbase’s rise as the most valuable brokerage. In parallel, CoinShares projects a boom in Bitcoin-yield solutions as companies adopt BTC for treasury reserves and explore returns through yield farming, derivatives, and lending, further supported by rising crypto payment acceptance among corporations like Ferrari and Amazon.
MicroStrategy is expected to join the Nasdaq 100 index on December 23, increasing its exposure to institutional capital through ETFs like the Invesco QQQ Trust. The software company’s stock has surged since it adopted a Bitcoin-focused treasury strategy in 2020, outperforming most major public companies. Meanwhile, the Beam Foundation plans to launch a $150 million venture fund in Abu Dhabi by 2025, focusing on blockchain gaming, AI, and AR startups, alongside accelerator programs to foster growth and branding. This aligns with Abu Dhabi’s growing Web3 ecosystem, which is driven by regulatory support and venture capital interest in blockchain gaming. Additionally, former Ava Labs executive Patrick O’Grady introduced “Commonware,” a flexible crypto primitives toolkit that gives developers greater creative control by avoiding the rigid structures of existing frameworks. This innovation aims to simplify blockchain development and improve user experiences, addressing technical barriers hindering mass adoption.
ResearchHub, a decentralised science platform featured in Nature, pays peer reviewers in cryptocurrency for their work, offering an opportunity for scientists like Pedro Paulo Gattai Gomes, who now earns more from reviewing than in his previous academic roles. Despite its potential to address challenges in traditional science, ResearchHub faces adoption difficulties due to the complexities of converting its ResearchCoin token to fiat, though it has listed RSC on centralised exchanges to simplify the process. Meanwhile, Mohamed El-Masri, CEO of PermianChain, highlighted the $16 billion opportunity in recapturing energy from gas flaring for Bitcoin mining and AI data centres. Bitcoin miners are increasingly converting unused energy sources like gas flaring and landfill methane into power for mining operations, promoting sustainability while keeping operational costs low. In other developments, FTX debtors reported recovering over $14 million in political donations as part of efforts to recover funds linked to the company’s bankruptcy. They settled with PACs and state Democratic parties while former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried faces criminal charges for fraud and money laundering, though campaign finance violations were not included in his charges. Several FTX executives, including Ryan Salame, face prison sentences for related offenses.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com
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