MicroStrategy rebrands to Strategy
On 5 Feb 2025, Top Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm MicroStrategy rebranded its name to Strategy ₿ and adopted orange as the primary colour for the company. Orange will reflect the company’s exposure to Bitcoin, and the “Strategy” name reflects the company’s focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Bitcoin technology. Also, the Strategy named has the symbol “₿”. The company reported its Q4 2024 financial record and confirmed that the it will remain focused on investing in Bitcoin with its current net of 447,470 BTC holdings.
FDIC to allow Banks use of Cryptocurrencies
A report by Barrons claimed that the FDIC & Trump administration are working collaboratively to allow US-based banks to engage in cryptocurrencies. As per the report, the FDIC officials are also planning to revise bank guidelines so that banks can engage in some particular crypto-related activities without prior regulatory approval.
Source: Barrons.com
Coinbase to support Ether Fi ($ETHFI)
Coinbase crypto exchange announced that it will support trading of Ether Fi (ETHFI) on the Ethereum network (ERC-20 token). From 6 Feb, the Transfers for $ETHFI will be available if provided liquidity conditions are met.
BlackRock to launch Bitcoin ETP in Europe
Bloomberg reported that the world’s largest fund manager, BlackRock, planned to launch an exchange-traded product (ETP) directly linked to Bitcoin in Europe. However the launch date is not planned, obviously a part of the regulatory approval process, for now the company is planning to start promoting its upcoming Bitcoin ETP by this month. Experts noted that it will be BlackRock’s first crypto-linked ETP outside of North America. Here, people need to know that ETP & ETF are almost the same; the main difference between these two is that an ETF holds Securities, but an ETP can hold non-security assets.
Malaysian PM’s X account was hacked
An unknown bad actor hacked the X (formerly Twitter) account of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. With the help of the account, the hacker promoted a suspicious crypto token $MALAYSIA. Indeed, the token was launched on the Solana network using the pump.fun platform. Currently, this tweet is not available on his account, meaning his account has been recovered, and a formal third-party investigation found that the token was backed by a historical Malaysian criminal gang.
Hong Kong legislator backing exploring Bitcoin as a strategic reserve
Hong Kong legislator Johnny Ng once again talked about the Bitcoin strategic reserve proposal and said that the country needs to boost its research around the possibility of Bitcoin adoption as a strategic reserve. Also, he advocated for the push of a regulatory process to allow the companies to issue stablecoin, as already some companies approved in the sandbox. He also confirmed that he got an invitation to join the Bitcoin US Summit in May & he believes he will be able to bring a better level of cooperation between Eastern & Western crypto industries.
Information source: X.com/Johnny_nkc
American securities regulatory body SEC in transition period
Bitwise general counsel Katherine Dowling said that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is in a transitional period, and crypto folks need to wait for the official appointment of the new chairman, Paul Atkins. She also said that the categorisation of other Cryptocurrencies, e.g. XRP, Sol, and Dogecoin, are still pending and this is the reason ETF product applications are struggling to get approval.
Information source: BlockWorks.co
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