Microsoft Rejects Bitcoin Proposal

️ On today's Top Picks:

Crypto News

• ⭐️ Ripple Labs $XRP receives final approval from NYDFS for its $RLUSD stablecoin; exchange & partner listings coming soon.

• Trump's World Liberty buys Ethereum $ETH, Chainlink $LINK, & AAVE $AAVE.

• Willow, Google's new quantum computer, poses no immediate threat to cryptocurrencies.

• Russian State Duma Deputy Anton Tkachev proposes creating a strategic Bitcoin $BTC reserve.

• Wrapped Bitcoin $WBTC on Tron $TRX removed from WBTC dashboard; proof-of-reserves no longer available.

• Solana $SOL launches AI Hackathon from December 10th to December 23rd; more than $185k in cash prizes.

• Pump[.]fun deposits ~$24m of Solana $SOL into Kraken; has deposited a total of ~$285m of SOL into Kraken.

• ⭐️ Binance & Circle announce strategic partnership; Binance to integrate $USDC across its products & services.

• Interchain Foundation $ATOM acquires Skip; to be renamed to Interchain Inc. and become ICF’s main subsidiary.

• BITMAIN to launch new production line in the US; aims to provide faster response times & more efficient services to NA customers.

• Crypto[.]com partners with Deutsche Bank for corporate banking services; Crypto[.]com Capital acquires Orion Principals Limited.

Alpha

• Babylon launches Bitcoin staking Cap-3; also launches Babylóóng Odyssey campaign.

• ⭐️ Pudgy Penguins NFTs pump above $100k; surge due to upcoming $PENGU airdrop.

• Kernel DAO (Kelp DAO) launches Mainnet on BNB Chain; restake & earn Kernel Points.

• BSX launches Epoch 15 from December 10th to December 17th; final epoch before $BSX TGE.

• SphereX launches SphereX $HERE TGE Airdrop Campaign on Galxe; live until December 21st.

• Treasure launches its L2 Mainnet built on ZKsync; DAO approved migration from Arbitrum in September.

• ICYMI Weekly Airdrop Updates by Earndrop.

• ICYMI Mitosis Airdrop Strategy by Earndrop.

Airdrops

• Magic Eden launches $ME airdrop claim; claim ends February 1st with unclaimed tokens going to stakers.

• ⭐️ Fuel to launch $FUEL airdrop within next two weeks; 20% of token supply allocated for the community.

• Binance launches $5m Airdrop Carnival in celebration of the revamped Binance Wallet; campaign ends February 28th.

• Kelp DAO (Kernel DAO) to unveil $KERNEL tokenomics next week; just launched Mainnet on BNB Chain.

• Solayer Foundation posts "oh hey" on X; airdrop potentially coming soon.

• BSX to launch $BSX airdrop in December; 10% of token supply allocated for initial airdrop.

• Rivalz Network reveals Roadmap through 2025; to launch $RIZ airdrop end of January.

• Aligned Layer launches Second Wave of $ALIGNED airdrop; Discord OG role holders eligible.

• Aligned Layer adds more repositories for developers, engineers, & researchers to register for $ALIGNED airdrop.

• Bluefin launches $BLUE airdrop claim; early protocol participants & more eligible.

• KIP Protocol extends $KIP airdrop claim deadline; 30 days for Uprising Users & SBT Holders and 180 days for Node Holders.

Finance News

• ⭐️ Microsoft $MSFT shareholders vote against Bitcoin investment proposal; 0.55% of shareholders voted in favor.

• MicroStrategy $MSTR likely to be added to Nasdaq 100 Index $QQQ; annoucement potentially on December 13th.

• MARA Holdings $MARA buys ~$1.1b of Bitcoin; now holds 40,435 BTC worth ~$3.9b.

• JPMorgan upgrades Cipher Mining $CIFR & CleanSpark $CLSK to overweight; raises MARA Holdings $MARA to neutral.

• Goldman Sachs $GS to evaluate participating in Bitcoin or Ethereum markets if regulators permit.

• Coincheck $CNCK crypto exchange listed on Nasdaq; becomes second crypto exchange to go public in the US.

• Argentina CNV approves cryptocurrency ETFs on its stock market; allows investors to trade foreign crypto ETFs.

• US Inflation rises to 2.7% in November, up from 2.6% in October; US Federal Reserve expected to cut interest rates next week.

• China considers allowing the yuan to weaken in 2025 as it braces for higher trade tariffs.

• El Salvador discovers unmined gold $XAU reserve potentially worth up to $3 trillion.

• Nvidia $NVDA request to shut down cryptocurrency mining class-action lawsuit dismissed by US Supreme Court; lawsuit to proceed.

• Apple $AAPL partners with Broadcom $AVGO to develop AI server chips; launch set for 2026.

Security and Exploits

• SlowMist Weekly Security Report highlights ~$1.64m of reported losses; includes Vestra DAO exploit, Clipper DEX attack, & more.

• New Scam targets crypto users through Telegram with fake groups & malicious bots.

• ZachXBT posts investigation into threat actor Excite who exploited ~$16m from a Coinbase Commerce contract.

• Clober exploited for ~$500k of Ethereum $ETH due to reentrancy issue; hack limited to Liquidity Vault on Base.

• US FBI & US CISA recommend use of end-to-end encryption messaging apps amid recent Salt Typhoon cyberattack.

• US Senator Ron Wyden proposes Secure American Communications Act to secure US telecoms amid recent Salt Typhoon cyberattack.

• Microsoft releases Windows 11 December updates patching one actively exploited zero-day & 71 other vulnerabilities.

• 93% Of Chipset Vulnerabilities on Android devices persist across generations due to code reuse practices.

Token Unlocks

• Axie Infinity $AXS / ~$7m / DEC 13th
• Polyhedra Network $ZKJ / ~$32m / DEC 14th
Sourced from Tokenomist

Funding

• Klickl raises $25m in Series A funding led by Aptos & Web3Port.

• Cosimo raises $25m in funding led by Des Mac Intyre.

• Exabits raises $15m in Seed funding led by Hack VC.

• Hyperbolic raises $12m in Series A funding led by Variant & Polychain Capital.

• Relai raises $12m in Series A funding led by Ego Death Capital.

• KAST raises $10m in Seed funding led by HongShan & Peak XV Partners.

• Commonware raises $9m in funding led by Haun Ventures & Dragonfly.

• Sphere raises $5m in Strategic funding.

• Soarchain raises $4.5m in funding.

• Neptune Protocol raises $3.9m in Seed funding.

• Spicenet raises $3.5m in Seed funding led by Hack VC & Magnus Capital.

• Story Engine raises $3.4m in Seed funding.

• Perea raises $3m in Pre-Seed funding led by Borderless Capital.

• Mandala Chain raises $1m in Pre-Seed funding led Harbour Industrial Capital.

• BounceBit raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from Boyaa Interactive.

• Dtravel raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from Modular Capital.

• Bounty Bay raises an undisclosed amount in funding from Animoca Brands.

• SettleMint raises an undisclosed amount in funding from The Hashgraph Group.

• ProvLabs raises an undisclosed amount in Seed funding.

The Degen Farmer