Avalanche (AVAX) appears to be one of the few major cryptocurrencies to buck the recent crypto decline, posting a phenomenal 79% weekly gain as others have declined.

Some analysts believe this is due to recent partnership announcements and a rise in trading volumes and total value locked, while others claim there’s been a shift in how altcoins are valued.

While Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) saw a 6% nosedive on Dec. 11, AVAX gained 13.6% in the last 24 hours, per CoinGecko data.

Avalanche is up 79% in the past seven days. Source: TradingView

Ryan Mcmillin, the chief investment officer at Merkle Tree Capital, told Cointelegraph that much of the excitement around AVAX could be due to…

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Senator Elizabeth Warren’s crypto Anti-Money Laundering bill has been causing a massive stir in the crypto industry. But some have pointed out that the senator’s bills have a track record of not going anywhere.

According to data from the bill-tracking platform GovTrack, Warren has introduced 330 bills during her 11 years as a senator. Ten of them were eventually folded into other bills and only one rather obscure bill has ever been enacted as is.

This was the National POW/MIA Flag Act, which requires the prisoner of war/missing in action flag to be displayed alongside the United States flag on certain Federal property.

POW/MIA flag to be required to fly alongside US flag on some…

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Nonfungible token (NFT) entrepreneur Wylie Aronow has confirmed he isn’t ready to return to Yuga Labs, the NFT firm he co-founded, despite making “steady progress” with his health.

“I’m not ready to come back to even part-time work. I have to ensure I’m around for a long time, for those who need me,” Aronow said on Dec. 11 in addressing rumors of a potential return.

“My point is, while I’m making steady progress with my health, there’s still some pretty wild swings, and this is a marathon for me.”

Aronow explained that some days he’s ready to throw himself into the “deep end,” while on other days he feels he needs to be “wheel-chaired” to an emergency room.

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FTX debtors warned that a $24 billion claim by the Internal Revenue Service could slow down the return of customer funds. 

The filing, made on Sunday, further argues that the FTX debtors “never earned anything anywhere near amounts that could support the IRS Claims for $24 billion in taxes.”

Instead, lawyers wrote, debtors for the bankrupt exchange incurred billions in losses.

“These cases present a zero-sum game. The only source of recovery for the IRS is by taking recoveries away from victims. As there is no basis to assert any tax claim against the Debtors, the IRS’s reliance on its own processes only serves to delay distributions to those truly injured,” FTX…

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Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, an outspoken critic of digital assets in the United States government, has announced that five more senators have agreed to cosponsor one of her bills aimed at cracking down on money laundering.

In a Dec. 11 announcement, Sen. Warren said Senators Raphael Warnock, Laphonza Butler, Chris Van Hollen, John Hickenlooper and Ben Ray Luján had backed her Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, reintroduced in July. According to Warren, the legislation specifically targeted illicit uses of crypto assets for money laundering and financing terrorism.

“I’m glad that five new senators are joining the fight to take action, including three members of the…

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As one pension fund reveals a new crypto-related investment, others may soon follow. Though allocations are likely to follow ample due diligence and could be limited to certain categories, industry participants say. 

The investment arm of London-based M&G plc invested $20 million Global Futures & Options Holdings (GFO-X), the company said Sunday. GFO-X is the UK’s first centrally-cleared crypto derivatives trading platform venue regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, it noted.

M&G plc — with roughly five million investment, insurance policy holders and pension customers — made the allocation on behalf of the Prudential With-Profits Fund. The company managed 332 billion…

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Bitcoin and ether still need to pump by about half to see their respective all-time highs. Not these cryptocurrencies.

Bittensor (TAO), the token that incentivizes competition between artificial intelligence models, hit highs over the weekend after launching in March. 

TAO has now more than tripled since its first trading day, converting to 900% gains since its lows posted in May.

Bitcoin’s first-ever BRC-20 token (ORDI) also hit an all-time high last week. ORDI was minted to show that Ordinals can do (almost) everything that Ethereum’s ERC-20 tokens can, including trade at billion-dollar valuations despite having little utility beyond being a great meme.

ORDI is up more than 160%…

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Ether (ETH) experienced a steep 9.5% correction in the early hours of Dec. 11. However, buyers quickly stepped in to defend the $2,220 support. Traders are now beginning to question whether the Ethereum network has what it takes to reinstate the bullish momentum to Ether price.

ETH capitalization in USD (blue) vs. altcoins ex-stablecoins (orange). Source: TradingView

It is worth noticing that the correction aligned with the broader cryptocurrency market, as Ether’s current 6.7% decline in the last 24 hours closely matches Bitcoin’s (BTC) 5.4% and XRP’s (XRP) 6.6% negative performances.

Are futures markets the sole reason for the ETH price correction?

Naturally, excessive leverage is…

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Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been ordered to stay in the United States until his sentencing in February 2024, with a federal judge determining there’s too much of a flight risk if the former exchange CEO is allowed to return to the United Arab Emirates. Seattle district court Judge Richard Jones wrote in his order:

“The defendant has enormous wealth and property abroad, and no ties to the United States […] His family resides in the UAE and it appears that he has favored status in the UAE. Under these circumstances, the Court finds that the defendant has not established by clear and convincing evidence that he is not likely to flee if he returns to the UAE.”

Jones…

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