Crypto market weekly update: Russian Central Bank opens investment, Solana ecosystem financing accelerates, frequent ETH Block Trading.

【Chain News】## The Central Bank of Russia plans to relax encryption investment restrictions.

The Central Bank of Russia recently released a draft concept for regulating the cryptocurrency market, intending to open different investment channels for retail and institutional investors. Non-qualified investors, after passing a risk test, can buy high liquidity crypto assets through an intermediary for up to 300,000 rubles (approximately 3,800 USD) per year. Qualified investors, on the other hand, do not have such restrictions; as long as they pass the risk assessment, they can invest in any currency, except for anonymous coins. This new regulation is planned to be legislated by July 2026, and from July 2027, serious actions will be taken against unlicensed intermediaries.

New Signals Released by U.S. Financial Data

The U.S. economy grew by 4.3% in the third quarter, marking the fastest increase in two years. At the same time, U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen expressed support for re-evaluating the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target, suggesting that future discussions may involve adjusting the target range to something like 1.5%-2.5% or 1%-3%. These data and policy shifts are affecting market expectations.

The popularity of Solana ecosystem financing remains strong

Upexi, a publicly traded company focused on Solana digital assets, announced that it has submitted a registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, planning to raise up to $1 billion through the issuance of various securities. The company holds over 2 million SOL tokens, valued at approximately $248 million, ranking fourth among publicly traded companies. The funds will be used for working capital, research and development, acquisitions, and debt repayment. Notably, Upexi's stock price has fallen about 50% this year, and the price of SOL has also dropped 34%, but the enthusiasm for financing remains high.

Regulatory authorities crack down on encryption scam platforms

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recently filed a lawsuit against three fraudulent encryption trading platforms (Morocoin, Berge, Cirkor) and four investment clubs, accusing them of luring retail investors into WhatsApp groups via social media, under the guise of AI stock selection, to defraud over $14 million in investments. These scam groups employed tactics such as fabricating regulatory licenses, forging trading records, and charging fake withdrawal fees. Regulatory authorities are seeking a permanent injunction, fines, and the recovery of ill-gotten gains.

Block Trade and Financing Trends

A new wallet purchased over 40,000 ETH from a leading exchange within two hours, worth approximately $121 million, and then deposited it into a lending platform to borrow $63 million USDT. During the same period, an investment firm bought another 46,000 ETH, bringing their total purchases to about 580,000 since early November, with a total investment of $1.72 billion and a current unrealized loss of approximately $141 million. Tom Lee's trading firm also purchased over 67,000 ETH within 24 hours, worth more than $200 million. These large inflow actions reflect institutions' continued interest in ETH.

New Projects and New Products Launched

A leading exchange's contract platform has launched pre-trading for perpetual contracts built on Ethereum. This contract is based on the Lighter Protocol token, using zero-knowledge aggregation technology to reduce latency and provide instant confirmation, supporting up to 5x leverage.

The fintech company founded by former FTX US President Brett Harrison has completed a $35 million financing round, with a valuation of $187 million. Their exchange, AX, focuses on perpetual contract trading of traditional assets such as stocks and foreign exchange, is regulated in Bermuda, and is open only to non-U.S. institutional investors.

The phenomenon of overvaluation in VC

Data comparisons show that the market value of most projects has significantly shrunk compared to venture capital valuations. Projects like Fuel Network and Bubblemaps have VC valuations of 1 billion dollars, but their current market values are only 11 million and 6 million dollars, respectively. Everlyn's market value is only 26 million dollars, while its VC valuation is as high as 250 million dollars. This reflects the adjustment of excessively high valuations after changes in market sentiment.

Market Options and Trading Data

$23.7 billion in Bitcoin options will expire this Friday, with major positions concentrated around the $85,000 and $100,000 strike prices. A “Human vs AI” live trading competition hosted by a certain exchange has concluded, with the AI team managing to limit losses to $13,000 (ROI -4.48%), while the bottom 30 of the 70 human traders nearly faced liquidation, with a total loss of $225,000 (ROI -32.21%). In the human camp, ProMint emerged as the champion, earning $13,600 and will win a $100,000 prize.