Cypherpunk Increases Holdings by about 56,000 ZEC, Investing around $29 Million

On December 30, per Whale Alert data, Tether Treasury minted 1 billion USDT on the TRON network.

On December 30th, U.S. stock markets opened lower: the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 0.06%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.05%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.04%. Cryptocurrency-linked stocks mostly posted modest gains, with the following moves: - Coinbase (COIN): down 0.87% - Circle (CRCL): up 0.55% - MicroStrategy (MSTR): up 0.09% - MARA Holdings (MARA): up 0.74% - Riot Blockchain (RIOT): up 1.54% - BitMine Immersion (BMNR): up 0.11% - SharpLink Gaming (SBET): up 0.1%

December 30th — Per a Globenewswire release, ETF issuer Defiance has announced the launch of the Defiance Daily Target 2X Long BITF ETF (BTFL). The fund tracks Bitcoin mining firm Bitfarms with 2x leverage, primarily targeting traders seeking to amplify short-term bullish returns on Bitfarms.

**December 30 —** The Russian Ministry of Justice has proposed amending the country’s Criminal Code to penalize illegal cryptocurrency mining, per a draft published Monday. Key proposed penalties: - Illegal mining without substantial profits: Up to 1.5 million rubles ($19,000) in fines and two years of forced labor. - Mining generating substantial profits: Up to five years in prison, 480 hours of forced labor, and a 2.5 million ruble fine. - Unregistered organized groups involved in profitable illegal mining: Up to 2.5 million rubles in fines, five years of forced labor, or imprisonment.

On December 30, fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) network Zama officially announced the launch of its mainnet, which has already executed the first transfer of the private stablecoin cUSDT on the Ethereum network.

As of December 30, CNBC reports that SoftBank has fully fulfilled its $40 billion investment commitment to OpenAI. Previously, BlockBeats noted that OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round on April 1, with SoftBank as the lead investor. The deal valued OpenAI at $300 billion post-investment (including the new capital). Additional backers include long-time core investor Microsoft, plus firms like Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive. OpenAI has stated it plans to use the fresh capital to “push the boundaries of AI research further” and scale its computing infrastructure—with roughly $18 billion earmarked for its Stargate project commitments. The financing comes with a key condition: if OpenAI fails to restructure into a for-profit entity by December 31, 2025, the total funding could be cut by up to $10 billion.