Bitcoin Price: US$ 104,432.40 (+2.96%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 3,959.09 (+2.29%)
In 2024, Ethereum liquid restaking experienced a remarkable 6,000% surge in total value locked (TVL), reaching $17.26 billion as liquid restaking tokens (LRTs) gained popularity for their capital efficiency and flexibility, with Ether.fi dominating over 50% of LRT TVL due to its user-friendly model. Meanwhile, XRP soared to a seven-year high of $2.90, driven by political tailwinds, ETF applications, and Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin approval, though an overbought status led to a pullback; optimism persists for 2025, fueled by pro-crypto sentiment following Donald Trump’s election victory and XRP’s rise to the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Additionally, OpenSea’s registration in the Cayman Islands and a planned December relaunch have sparked rumours of a token launch and airdrop, with speculation pointing to potential rewards for early users, inspired by Blur’s successful strategy of redistributing billions to its community.
OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever recently predicted the end of the AI pre-training era, noting that computing power now surpasses available data, which he compared to fossil fuels, and envisioning a future driven by AI superintelligence, agentic AI, synthetic data, and inference-time computing. AI agents capable of independent decision-making have made waves in the crypto world, with innovations like Truth Terminal promoting memecoins and Gemini 2.0 enabling complex reasoning tasks while addressing data hallucinations that degrade AI performance. In Australia, the government is advancing a National AI Capability Plan focused on workforce upskilling, innovation, and investment, though critics argue the timeline lags behind global AI advancements. Simultaneously, Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial has invested nearly $45 million in crypto assets, including Ethereum and Bitcoin, to enhance its decentralised finance platform with support from prominent backers like Justin Sun, despite challenges with token sales.
Bitcoin soared to a new high above $106,000, pushing the Bitcoin-to-gold ratio to a record 40 ounces per BTC, with traders like Peter Brandt predicting continued growth to 89:1, while the cryptocurrency’s rising mining difficulty further emphasises its growing market dominance and potential as a digital gold alternative. Amid this surge, Binance faces intellectual property theft allegations from the creator of Peanut the Squirrel over its PNUT-themed memecoin, a case that could set a precedent for IP rights in the crypto space, while the token’s rapid ascent to a $2.25 billion market cap highlights the challenges of branding and IP in the memecoin market. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy’s aggressive Bitcoin strategy saw it expand its holdings to 439,000 BTC after purchasing 15,350 BTC for $1.5 billion, yielding a 72% year-to-date return and solidifying its leadership in corporate Bitcoin adoption as it aligns its future with the cryptocurrency’s growth.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com
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