BTC breaks through the $99000 mark

The U.K. government has appointed Emma Reynolds as the new Economic Secretary in charge of overseeing digital assets and central bank digital currencies — alongside the broader financial sector.The appointment was announced on Tuesday following the resignation of Tulip Siddiq, who set out the government's crypto agenda weeks ago.It is not yet clear what the appointment of Reynolds, the former Parliamentary secretary at the Treasury, will do for the country's crypto plans. However, the Financial Conduct Authority has already set out its agenda for a new crypto regime.Reynolds previously worked at TheCityUK, a trade body, as a managing director and in a bill discussion in 2022 said that there were positives to the U.K. being a second mover to the European Union and learning from it."CryptoUK and its members have a long-term working relationship with the U.K. government and, as such, we welcome the appointment of Emma Reynolds as the new City Minister, " a spokesperson from lobby group CryptoUK said.Siddiq, the former secretary, resigned on Tuesday due to mounting pressure regarding an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh. Siddiq, whose aunt was the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, was named in an investigation looking into allegations that her family had embezzled funds.In a letter, Siddiq said she had referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, where she was able to share the full details of her finances and living arrangements. Magnus had found that Siddiq had "not breached the ministerial code," her letter said.However, continuing her work would be a distraction to the government, she said.Siddiq had just announced that the U.K.'s new government, headed up by the Labour Party, would still follow the regulatory plans set by its predecessor the Conservative Party. Crypto and stablecoin legislation is expected to come out early this year.Many are looking at the U.K. to take steps forward to regulate the crypto sector as other major nations like the European Union install their crypto regimes and the U.S. waits for crypto friendly Donald Trump to begin his Presidency next week

Boerse Stuttgart, one of Germany’s leading stock exchanges, has seen its cryptocurrency trading business explode in recent years to now account for approximately 25% of its overall revenue.While not revealing the exact cryptocurrency trading volume, the exchange group shared in a press release at the end of last year that the metric “almost tripled” in 2024 to record its best performance ever. In custody, Boerse Stuttgart had around €4.3 billion ($4.45 billion).The relative success of the exchange's crypto business comes alongside a backdrop of spot ETF mania in the United States, the launch of which saw inflows of $36.2 billion in 2024.Bitcoin accounted for nearly 50% of the exchange’s cryptocurrency revenue, according to the firm’s CEO Matthias Voelkel, who told global news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the exchange has been spending the last five years growing its cryptocurrency trading platform.The exchange’s focus on attracting both professional and retail investors within the German-speaking world has seemingly proven fruitful as the platform has now managed to attract over one million cryptocurrency trading clients.Voelkel himself, according to the AFP, invested in bitcoin after considering the benefits of the blockchain technology underpinning the cryptocurrency and over a belief that their popularity will keep on growing.Boerse Stuttgart offers services through it's digital exchange as well as the retail-focused trading app BISON.Last year, it launched a fully insured cryptocurrency staking service on the BISON app through a partnership with German insurance giant Munich Re and staking provider Staking Facilities.CoinDesk reached out to Boerse Stuttgart but did not hear back before press time.

The current total market value of cryptocurrencies is $3.51 trillion, with a 24-hour growth of $139.027 billion, an increase of 4.12%. Among them, Bitcoin accounts for 56.19% of the market value, while Ethereum accounts for 11.66% of the market value.

On January 15th, according to Reuters, three informed sources stated that senior Republican officials at the SEC are preparing to begin reforming the agency's cryptocurrency policy as early as next week after Trump takes office. Two informed sources stated that the measures being considered by commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda include initiating relevant procedures, ultimately developing guidance or rules to clarify under what circumstances the agency considers cryptocurrency as evidence, and reviewing some ongoing cryptocurrency enforcement cases in court.

Binance - XRP/USDT prices hit a historic high, now trading at $2.9117, up 11.39% in 24 hours, with a turnover of $2.124 billion. After reaching a new high in price, there is a high probability of a price correction. (AICoin Research Institute)