PA Daily News | Crypto VC Shima Capital Quietly Ceases Operations; Binance Releases Listing Process and Warns of Scams

Today's top news highlights:

Crypto venture capital firm Shima Capital is reportedly quietly ceasing operations.

Binance releases listing process guide and community warnings against scams impersonating third parties.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded its nearly four-year investigation into the Aave protocol.

Michael Saylor: Quantum computing won't crack Bitcoin; it will only make it more powerful.

Rainbow Token Economics: TGE airdrop accounts for 15%, total supply 1 billion tokens.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $277 million yesterday, with only Fidelity FBTC experiencing a net inflow.

Macro

Binance releases listing process guide and community warnings against scams impersonating third parties.

According to an official announcement, Binance has released an overview of its listing process and a community warning against scams impersonating third parties. Binance follows a structured listing process in three phases: Binance Alpha, Binance Futures, and Binance Spot. Binance carefully evaluates the performance and potential of each project at each stage of this progressive process. However, in rare cases, projects that meet the necessary criteria may be listed directly on Binance Spot, unlocking full market access and liquidity without first going through the Alpha or Futures phase. Binance Alpha serves as the initial stage, showcasing promising projects to the community. Projects that perform strongly and meet key criteria may be listed on Binance Futures, expanding trading opportunities through perpetual contracts. Projects that meet the upgrade criteria will be listed on Binance Spot. For projects whose tokens are already in circulation, the evaluation process also considers various factors such as token performance, trading volume, valuation, liquidity, and allocation. In any case, Binance evaluates tokens in accordance with its regulatory obligations. In some cases, projects may receive Futures listing opportunities upon the launch of Alpha, depending on the project's fundamentals, secondary market metrics, compliance with market rules, and other factors. Contract listings are implemented only with the informed cooperation of the project team, but the final listing decision will be independently assessed and made by Binance. Furthermore, Binance has noticed a significant increase in scams, with individuals impersonating Binance employees (including business development personnel), official "listing agents," or authorized intermediaries. They typically promise guaranteed listing results for a fee. These claims are entirely fraudulent. Any listing promises are false, and Binance does not charge any fees for project evaluation or listing applications. Binance has received reports of individuals and entities impersonating "Binance listing agents" or claiming they can help tokens get listed on Binance for a fee, and has announced that these individuals and entities have been blacklisted by Binance's internal audit.

The Bank of Canada announced it will only approve high-quality stablecoins pegged to the central bank's currency.

According to Cointelegraph, the Bank of Canada has stated that, under the country's upcoming stablecoin regulations expected in 2026, it will only approve high-quality stablecoins pegged to the central bank's currency to ensure they become "premium money." "We want stablecoins to be premium money, like paper money or bank deposits," Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said in a speech to the Montreal Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. Macklem hopes stablecoins will be pegged 1:1 to the central bank's currency and backed by "high-quality liquid assets" that can be easily converted into cash. These assets typically include government bonds and treasury bonds. Macklem's remarks followed Canada's lengthy 2025 budget report released in early November. The report stated that stablecoin issuers will be required to hold adequate reserves, develop redemption policies, and implement various risk management frameworks, including measures to protect personal and financial data.

The Marshall Islands launched the world's first blockchain-based universal basic income program on the Stellar blockchain.

According to CoinDesk, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has completed the world's first on-chain distribution of Universal Basic Income (UBI) using the Stellar blockchain and its digitally native sovereign bond, USDM1. The country's Treasury confirmed that this multi-million dollar program, developed in partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) and infrastructure provider Crossmint, is part of the local Universal Basic Income Program (ENRA). This program replaces quarterly in-kind cash distributions with digital transfers, benefiting numerous eligible citizens scattered across the islands. USDM1 is a dollar-denominated sovereign bond, fully backed by short-term U.S. Treasury securities, and distributed through the Stellar distribution platform to the customized digital wallet application Lomalo. A spokesperson for the Marshall Islands Treasury stated that USDM1 is issued in accordance with New York law, based on established law, and not on regulatory discretion or policy preferences. The U.S. Treasury collateral is held by an independent trustee, with a fixed, unconditional, and legally enforceable redemption right. ENRA is a fiscal distribution program, with each unit issued on a one-to-one basis using short-term U.S. Treasury securities, fully backed and legally segregated. The government emphasizes that USDM1 does not undermine the country's monetary or technological sovereignty. A white paper released alongside the plan outlines its broader policy and financial framework.

Lingxi, a digital collection platform under JD.com, announced the opening of its gifting function.

According to the *New Consumer Daily*, JD.com's digital art collection platform, "Lingxi," recently announced the opening of its transfer function, stating that newly issued digital assets will officially be eligible for transfer starting December 15th, with the opening time for existing assets yet to be determined. This move, occurring just one day after Lingxi's public beta launch, quickly sparked heated discussions within the digital art collection community. In fact, as early as December 2021, JD.com's digital art collection platform, "Lingxi," was already launched on the JD.com app mini-program. However, due to tightening policies, Lingxi, which did not offer secondary trading, was essentially "shut down." According to Zhu Youping, rotating chairman of the Blockchain Committee of the China Communications Industry Association, JD.com's relaunch of the Lingxi platform is not a simple return, but a strategic upgrade following a period of adjustment in the digital art collection industry. The real turning point for the industry comes from the introduction of policy standards. In December 2025, two national standards, the *Implementation Guidelines for Asset Management of Cultural Digital Asset Transactions* and the *Guidelines for the Valuation of Cultural Digital Assets*, will officially come into effect, marking a new development stage for the digital art collection industry, moving from "spontaneous exploration" to "standardized guidance." The "Transaction Implementation Guidelines" clarifies the full-process standards for the qualifications of participants in cultural digital asset transactions and risk control, while the "Value Assessment Guidelines" establishes a unified value assessment system for cultural digital assets. Zhu Youping stated that the relaunch of JD Lingxi verifies a core logic: the essence of digital collectibles is digital rights certificates, which are commodities rather than financial assets.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded its nearly four-year investigation into the Aave protocol.

Aave founder Stani.eth announced on the X platform that after four years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded its investigation into the Aave protocol. The Aave team has invested significant effort and resources to protect Aave and its ecosystem. In recent years, DeFi has faced unfair regulatory pressure; now it can break free from these constraints and enter a new era where developers can truly build the future of finance.

The US FDIC has proposed establishing rules for a stablecoin application framework to advance the implementation of the GENIUS Act.

According to The Block, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is moving forward with implementation of parts of the stablecoin bill that became law this summer. On Tuesday, the FDIC Board of Directors approved a proposed rulemaking notice that sets out the application process for agencies issuing payment stablecoins through subsidiaries. The agency is currently soliciting public comments on the proposed rule. At the Board meeting, FDIC legal counsel Nicholas Simons stated that applications must clearly define the scope of the proposed activities, provide a description of the "subsidiary's ownership and control structure," and include "an engagement letter with a registered public accountant." Simons stated, "In summary, the proposed rule will allow the FDIC to assess the safety and robustness of the proposed payment stablecoin activities while minimizing the regulatory burden on applicants." This summer, President Trump signed the GENIUS Act, creating a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. Earlier this month, Acting FDIC Chairman Travis Hill informed lawmakers that the agency plans to release an implementation framework for the GENIUS Act in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, he also stated that the agency plans to release a proposed rule in the coming months that sets capital, liquidity, and risk management requirements for approved subsidiary stablecoin issuers.

Opinion

Chairman of the Financial Markets Committee of the Russian State Duma: Cryptocurrencies will never become currency in Russia; they can only be used as investment tools.

According to DL News, Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma's Financial Market Committee, stated that legislators support the central bank's opposition to the use of cryptocurrencies for payments between individuals and companies. Aksakov said, "We must understand that cryptocurrencies will never be currency in Russia; they can only be used as investment tools. When payments are needed, they must be made solely in rubles." Aksakov's remarks come as the government prepares to regulate the industry, despite the central bank's resistance, given the rising adoption of cryptocurrencies in Russia. The central bank has repeatedly called for a complete ban on cryptocurrencies, while the Ministry of Finance favors regulating exchanges and taxing traders' profits. Neither side is willing to compromise on this issue, and they have each proposed competing bills to ban or legalize the cryptocurrency-related industry. These bills ultimately failed, stalling in the State Duma committee after four years of deadlock.

CryptoQuant: Bitcoin is nearing the average investor cost of $81,500; a break below this level could trigger selling pressure and a further decline.

According to CryptoQuant analyst MorenoDV, Bitcoin's current price is near the average investor's purchase price (around $81,500), a significant psychological level. Investors are generally more willing to hold above this level; a break below it could turn this area into a selling pressure zone. Meanwhile, the market sentiment indicator AVIV ratio suggests that Bitcoin is currently in a consolidation phase with low volatility, as investors are adjusting their positions. If the price can hold above $81,500 and the AVIV ratio (the ratio of active market valuation to realized valuation) remains stable, it indicates that market confidence remains, and the trend is likely to continue; however, a break below this level could weaken confidence, and the price may fall further.

Michael Saylor: Quantum computing won't crack Bitcoin; it will only make it more powerful.

Strategy founder Michael Saylor wrote: "Bitcoin's quantum leap: Quantum computing will not crack Bitcoin, but rather make it more powerful. As the network upgrades, active Bitcoins will migrate to more secure addresses, while lost Bitcoins will be permanently frozen. Increased security and reduced supply make Bitcoin more powerful."

Bitwise predicts that Bitcoin will reach a new all-time high in 2026, and its correlation with stocks will decrease.

According to a memo from Bitwise's Chief Investment Officer, Matt Hougan, three of the company's "Top 10 Predictions for 2026," to be released on December 16th, are particularly important for crypto investors. Prediction 1 predicts that Bitcoin will break its four-year cycle and reach a new all-time high in 2026 due to diminishing halving effects, expected interest rate declines, reduced leverage risk, and accelerated institutional capital inflows driven by spot ETFs and regulatory clarity. Prediction 2 points out that Bitcoin's volatility was already lower than Nvidia stock in 2025, and its long-term volatility is trending downwards, a trend that will continue in 2026, reflecting a reduced risk fundamental for it as an investment asset. Prediction 3 anticipates that the correlation between Bitcoin and stocks will further decrease in 2026, as cryptocurrencies will be driven more by endogenous forces such as regulatory progress and institutional adoption, rather than stock market volatility.

K33 Analyst: Bitcoin's Q4 performance significantly underperformed the stock market, potentially foreshadowing a positive trend in January.

According to CoinDesk, Vetle Lunde, Head of Research at K33, stated that as the year-end approaches, Bitcoin may benefit as asset managers adjust their portfolios to maintain established asset allocations, given its underperformance compared to other asset classes this quarter. Earlier this year, Bitcoin underperformed the S&P 500 in the first quarter before rising in the second. Conversely, when Bitcoin outperformed stocks in the second quarter, it fell at the beginning of the third. So far this quarter, Bitcoin has lagged the S&P 500 by as much as 26%, suggesting a large-scale rebalancing is imminent. Lunde indicated that fund managers with established Bitcoin allocation goals, or those adjusting their positions before the end of the year, could see significant inflows in the final trading days of the year and early January. He also noted that despite price stabilization, market participants remain reluctant to take on new risks. CME derivatives trading activity is near its annual low, with Bitcoin futures open interest around 124,000 coins; perpetual contract funding rates are near neutral, and open interest changes are minimal, indicating a lack of confidence in short-term direction. The 12% drop in spot cryptocurrency trading volume last week also confirms the low willingness of traders to participate as the year draws to a close.

Project Updates

Coinbase will launch Merlin Chain (MERL) perpetual contracts.

Coinbase Markets announced on its X platform that it will launch trading of Merlin Chain (MERL) perpetual contracts. Subject to liquidity conditions, the MERL-PERP market will commence trading in supported regions on or after 17:30 Beijing time on December 18, 2025. Retail traders in some regions can trade perpetual futures through Coinbase Advanced. Institutional investors in some regions can trade perpetual futures directly through Coinbase International Exchange.

Coinbase has listed Theoriq (THQ) and Beam (BEAM) spot trading.

According to official sources, Coinbase launched spot trading for Theoriq (THQ) and Beam (BEAM) early this morning.

Binance Alpha will launch zkPass (ZKP) on December 19th.

Binance Alpha will launch zkPass (ZKP) on December 19th. Eligible users can claim the airdrop using Binance Alpha Points through the Alpha Events page after trading begins.

BitsLab: Multiple header plugin wallets contain vulnerabilities that could be used to steal private keys.

Luis_0xyi, co-founder of BitsLab, posted on the X platform: "A reminder to be cautious when using Chrome extension wallets with large sums of money on Windows computers. BitsLab recently discovered a vulnerability in more than a dozen leading extension wallets that can be used to directly steal private keys. Extension wallets of leading exchanges such as Coinbase Wallet and Binance Wallet have this problem. However, there are certain requirements for the exploitation scenarios of this vulnerability. We will disclose it again after it is fixed."

A former Theta executive accused the company's CEO of fraud and retaliation.

According to Decrypt, two former executives of blockchain company Theta Labs have filed a whistleblower lawsuit in California, accusing the company and its CEO, Mitch Liu, of years of fraud, market manipulation, and retaliation. Former executives Jerry Kowal and Andrea Berry filed separate lawsuits in Los Angeles Superior Court, accusing Liu of using Theta Labs and its parent company, Silver VR Technologies, to inflate token prices through misleading collaborations and undisclosed insider token sales, while also retaliating against employees who raised concerns. Lawyers representing Jerry Kowal allege that Mitch Liu used Theta Labs as a personal trading vehicle to engage in fraud, self-serving transactions, and market manipulation. Liu's meticulously orchestrated pump-and-dump schemes repeatedly wiped out the value of investors and employees. Liu's alleged schemes also included "generating false quotes for NFTs," some of which involved high-profile collaborations with celebrities like Katy Perry. Berry's lawsuit also targets Theta's previous statements regarding Google, accusing the company of publicly misrepresenting a routine cloud services agreement as a strategic partnership. The complaint also alleges two other acts of self-interest, alleging that "Theta's so-called 'partners' are actually other companies created and wholly owned by Liu."

The Hyper Foundation has proposed that HYPE held by the aid fund be considered destroyed and permanently removed from circulation and total supply.

The HyperLiquid Foundation announced on the X platform that it proposes a validator vote to formally confirm the burning of HYPE tokens from the aid fund and permanently remove these tokens from circulation and the total supply. The aid fund automatically converted transaction fees into HYPE during L1 execution. Similar to the zero address, the aid fund's system address never possessed the private key controlling its funds. Unless a hard fork occurs, the funds are mathematically unrecoverable. A "yes" vote signifies validators' agreement to burn the aid fund's HYPE tokens. Since these tokens already reside in a system address without a private key, no on-chain operations are required. This vote constitutes a binding social consensus that no protocol upgrade will ever be authorized to access this address. Furthermore, on-chain data shows that the Hyperliquid aid fund holds 37.114 million HYPE tokens, worth approximately $1.02 billion, representing about 13.7% of the current circulating supply.

Reddit has officially discontinued its NFT service, and its in-app wallet "Vault" has shut down and removed the ability to view other users' digital collections.

Unfungible co-founder Sharbel revealed that Reddit has officially discontinued its NFT service. It is shutting down its in-app wallet, "Vault," and removing the ability for users to view other people's digital collections.

Kled founder accuses Believe founder of continuously dumping KLED tokens

Avi Patel, founder of the Solana ecosystem AI project Kled, posted on the X platform accusing Ben Pasternak, founder of Believe, of continuously dumping KLED tokens on the market. Patel stated, "For the past seven days, Pasternak has been using a DCA strategy to continuously dump millions of KLED tokens, coinciding with our release of our largest application update to date and a period of low market trading volume during a bear market. Initially, according to the fee agreement, Pasternak held more than 6% of the KLED token supply, and this allocation had been accumulating before our exit from Believe in July."

Rainbow Token Economics: TGE airdrop accounts for 15%, total supply 1 billion tokens.

CoinList has released the economics of Rainbow's RNBW token. The total supply is 1 billion tokens, with 15% allocated to the TGE airdrop, approximately 3% to the community pre-sale via CoinList, 47% to the treasury, 12.2% to the team, 7.8% to investors, and 15% to the community. The circulating supply at TGE will be approximately 20% (including airdrops and pre-sales). Previously, it was announced that Rainbow would conduct the RNBW token TGE on February 5th.

AAVE token holders have proposed that the DAO adopt a "poison pill" plan to acquire Aave Labs, further escalating the revenue-sharing dispute.

According to The Block, an Aave DAO participant has questioned whether the relationship between the Aave protocol, the DAO, and Aave Labs needs to be reassessed. User tulipking proposed in a recent governance forum post that the Aave DAO should seize control of Aave Labs' intellectual property (including its published code and trademarks) and company equity by filing a "poison pill" lawsuit. This move aims to replace control of the lending protocol and solidify ownership for all AAVE token holders. This "declaration of sovereignty" marks a further escalation of the ongoing debate among Aave community members regarding how protocol revenue should be distributed and which organization will ultimately control Aave. In his proposal, tulipking wrote, "This is a defensive 'poison pill' designed to protect the DAO from centralized control and ensure that all value flows back to AAVE holders. Aave Labs, without DAO approval, has effectively privatized assets that should belong to the community by monetizing the Aave brand, frontend, and user base. If Labs is unwilling to voluntarily share revenue and control, then the DAO must take everything back." Besides gaining complete control of Aave's intellectual property, tulipking also proposed taking back "all past revenue generated by Aave Labs from Aave-branded products" and taking over the company's equity, essentially "turning Aave Labs into a wholly owned subsidiary of the DAO." Related reading: Annual revenue losses of tens of millions spark governance controversy; Aave Labs accused of "betraying" the DAO.

Important data

The new address withdrew $17.8 million worth of tokens including LINK and AAVE, with ETH accounting for 95% of the holdings.

According to user Ai Yi, a new address (0xDE2…E4613) withdrew a basket of tokens worth a total of $17.8 million from Binance, including ETH, LINK, AAVE, UNI, POL, and COMP. Ethereum (ETH) accounted for 95% of the holdings in this transaction, worth approximately $16.93 million, at a price of $2935.55 at the time of withdrawal.

Gonka's total network hashrate has exceeded 10,000 H100 equivalent tokens, and its five inference models have a daily usage of nearly 100 million tokens.

According to data from the Gonka browser, the decentralized AI inference network Gonka's total computing power has surged nearly 20 times, exceeding the equivalent of 10,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, reaching 10,729 (as of December 17th). This scale is equivalent to a large national-level AI computing center or the core AI cluster of a leading cloud provider, capable of simultaneously supporting the training of tens of billions of large models and the continuous high-throughput inference of hundreds of billions of models. Gonka integrates global GPU resources in a decentralized manner, forming a sustainably scalable high-performance AI computing power network without the need for centralized data centers. This computing power milestone marks Gonka's official entry into the ranks of the world's top AI infrastructure networks and its ability to provide commercial-grade API services. Gonka currently supports 5 major AI inference models. In just 3 months since its mainnet launch, the total daily (per epoch) usage of inference models is nearly 100 million tokens, with the mainstream model Qwen3-235B-Instruct having a daily usage of approximately 30 million tokens, showing exponential growth potential. Currently, nearly 600 active nodes from over 30 countries and regions have joined the Gonka computing network, with over 2,000 users accessing its AI inference service daily. Data shows that the growth rate of Gonka's inference usage far exceeds the growth rate of network nodes and computing power, validating the market's strong demand for Gonka's decentralized inference service and the feasibility of its business model. As previously reported, Gonka, a highly efficient decentralized AI inference and training network, recently received $50 million in investment from Bitfury and is supported by OpenAI investor Coatue and Solana investor Slow Ventures, among others, and is considered one of the most watched emerging infrastructures in the AI × DePIN direction.

Data: 3,000 Bitcoins transferred to Binance, worth approximately $260 million.

According to Whale Alert, 3,000 bitcoins (worth approximately $260 million) were transferred from an unknown wallet to Binance.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $277 million yesterday, with only Fidelity FBTC experiencing a net inflow.

According to SoSoValue data, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $277 million yesterday (December 16th, Eastern Time). The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest single-day net inflow was the Fidelity ETF (FBTC), with a net inflow of $26.7224 million. FBTC's historical total net inflow has reached $11.972 billion. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest single-day net outflow was the BlackRock ETF (IBIT), with a net outflow of $211 million. IBIT's historical total net inflow has reached $62.521 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $114.279 billion, with an ETF net asset value ratio (market capitalization as a percentage of Bitcoin's total market capitalization) of 6.54%. The historical cumulative net inflow has reached $57.269 billion.

Ethereum spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $224 million yesterday, marking the fourth consecutive day of net outflows.

According to SoSoValue data, Ethereum spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $224 million yesterday (December 16th, Eastern Time). The Ethereum spot ETF with the largest single-day net outflow was BlackRock ETF ETHA, with a net outflow of $221 million. ETHA's historical total net inflow is currently $12.87 billion. This was followed by Fidelity ETF FETH, with a single-day net outflow of $2.945 million. FETH's historical total net inflow is currently $2.644 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of Ethereum spot ETFs is $18.172 billion, with an ETF net asset value ratio (market capitalization as a percentage of Ethereum's total market capitalization) of 5.11%. The historical cumulative net inflow has reached $12.639 billion.

The address suspected to belong to the founder of Lido has sold 14,585 ETH and transferred 47.2 million USDC to Wintertermute.

According to an article published on the X platform by on-chain analyst Eye, the address suspected to be that of Lido founder Konstantin Lomashuk sold a total of 14,585 ETH through multiple transactions before yesterday's market decline, and then transferred 47.2 million USDC to the Wintermute Deposit address.

Blocto wallet announced its impending closure after five years of operation due to continuous losses.

According to an official announcement from Blocto, the wallet service will be shut down after five years of operation. The project team stated that the FLOW token price has fallen by more than 99% from its 2021 high, resulting in continuous losses and accumulating over $5.5 million in losses over five years. Despite attempts to communicate with Flow/Dapper leadership since June of this year to seek sustainable solutions, no effective response or meeting opportunity has been received, and operating funds have been exhausted. The Blocto wallet, BloctoSwap, and Blocto Teleport services will officially close at 7 PM PST on December 18, 2025. Users must withdraw all liquidity pool assets and bridge their cross-chain assets back to their original networks before the deadline. For users in custodial mode, they must manually export their private keys to switch to non-custodial mode before then; otherwise, they will permanently lose wallet access. The Blocto staking service will continue to operate; users do not need to unstake their assets and can manage them by importing their private keys to other wallets. The team reminds users to be vigilant against scams and never disclose their private keys to anyone. In 2023, it was previously reported that the multi-chain wallet Blocto completed its Series A funding round at a valuation of $80 million, with Mark Cuban and others participating in the investment.

Wall Street banks have sold over $530 million in notes linked to the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF.

According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin was once considered too volatile, poorly regulated, and too marginal to be packaged into a financial instrument by Wall Street firms and sold to wealthy clients. Now, the situation is quite different. In July, Jefferies Financial Group issued the first U.S. structured note linked to the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF. Since then, at least three other banks, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase, have followed suit. Data from WSD's Structured Products Intelligence division shows that these banks have sold over $530 million worth of notes linked to BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). In fact, banks are incorporating cryptocurrency exposure into new products that offer customized returns based on different risk appetites and include some downside protection.

Investment and Financing/Acquisition

Web3 social payments company METYA has secured $50 million in strategic funding, led by Century Alliance.

According to official news, Web3 social payment company METYA announced that it has secured $50 million in strategic investment. This investment was led by Century United Holdings Group (1959.HK), with participation from Castrum Istanbul, Alpha Capital, M2M Capital, and Vertex Capital. This round of strategic investment will accelerate MetYa's global development plans in the areas of AI-driven social networking, MePay (payment business), and global liquidity connectivity.

Crypto venture capital firm Shima Capital is reportedly quietly ceasing operations.

Kate Irwin, head of content at Veda, disclosed on the X platform that crypto venture capital firm Shima Capital is quietly ceasing operations. Three weeks ago, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the company and its founder, Yida Gao, accusing him of "participating in a fraudulent scheme" to deceive investors. According to an email sent to the founders of portfolio companies, Yida Gao is resigning and closing the fund, stating in the email, "I deeply regret my wrong decision and apologize for letting everyone down." Founded in 2021, Shima Capital had $200 million in funds and had invested in several crypto projects, including Berachain, Monad, and Pudgy Penguins. The SEC accused Yida Gao of exaggerating investment returns in promotional materials, claiming a 90x return on one investment when the actual return was only 2.8x. Furthermore, Fortune magazine reported that Yida Gao transferred investment funds to an offshore entity he wholly owned without disclosing this to investors. The day after the SEC filed the lawsuit, Yida Gao agreed to pay approximately $4 million in settlement.

Stablecoin payment platform RedotPay has completed a $107 million Series B funding round, led by Goodwater Capital.

According to The Block, Hong Kong-based stablecoin payment platform RedotPay has completed a $107 million Series B funding round, led by Goodwater Capital, with participation from Pantera Capital, Circle Ventures, Blockchain Capital, and existing investor HSG. The funds will be used for product iteration, expansion of compliance licenses, and strategic acquisitions. RedotPay boasts an annualized payment volume exceeding $10 billion, annual revenue exceeding $150 million, users in over 100 markets worldwide, and more than 6 million registered users. The platform remains profitable.

Institutional holdings

Today, two Matrixport-linked wallets deposited 4,000 BTC, worth approximately $348 million, into Binance.

According to Lookonchain, two wallets associated with Matrixport deposited 4,000 bitcoins into Binance today, with a total value of approximately $348 million. Earlier today, it was reported that Matrixport deposited 1,000 BTC into Binance, worth $86.9 million.

The Bhutanese government plans to use 10,000 bitcoins to build a special administrative region called "City of Mindfulness."

PANews reported on December 17th, citing Cointelegraph, that the Bhutanese government announced it will use 10,000 bitcoins from its reserves to build the Glep Mindfulness City (GMC), a special administrative region. Located in Glep town in southern Bhutan, GMC, launched in 2024, aims to curb youth outflow and become Bhutan's new economic hub by creating high-value-added local employment opportunities. The city plans to attract businesses from multiple sectors, including finance, tourism, green energy, technology, healthcare, and agriculture, and will offer regulatory flexibility for cryptocurrency and fintech companies while promoting Bitcoin mining in Bhutan. According to its official website, GMC covers approximately 10% of Bhutan's land area, about 1,544 square miles. Bhutan's government holds the fifth-largest Bitcoin reserves in the world, with the majority originating from mining. The country holds approximately 11,286 bitcoins, worth over $986 million.

Bitmine is suspected of receiving 48,049 ETH from FalconX, worth approximately $142 million.

According to OnchainLens monitoring, a newly created wallet received 48,049 ETH (worth $141.78 million) from FalconX, and the wallet may belong to Bitmine.