insiders

According to CoinDesk, two insiders revealed that as the cryptocurrency exchange platform Kraken prepares to go public in the U.S. early this year, Kraken has fired Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Stephanie Lemmerman.Lemmerman joined Kraken from Dapper Labs in November 2024 and served as the CFO of the exchange for one year and four months. One insider stated that she is currently serving as a strategic advisor at Kraken.Insiders revealed that former Vice President of Business Development Robert Moore has essentially taken over her position. The leadership page on the website of Kraken's parent company, Payward Inc., has been updated to show that Moore is now the Deputy CFO, while Lemmerman's name does not appear on that page.

According to Techub News, multiple sources have revealed that the first batch of compliant stablecoin licenses in Hong Kong is expected to be issued by the end of March, with HSBC and Standard Chartered likely to be among the first approved institutions.Insiders indicate that after the first round of licenses is issued, the approval process for the second round of licenses will also be expedited, with an announcement expected soon.

According to sources, XAI and SpaceX have set the share exchange ratio at 0.1433. Some XAI executives may choose to receive cash at a price of $75.46 per share instead of SpaceX stock.

According to Global Network reports, informed sources revealed that Nvidia originally planned to invest up to $100 billion (approximately 696.456 billion yuan) in OpenAI for training and running the latest artificial intelligence models. However, due to internal doubts within the company, this highly anticipated deal is currently at a standstill.In September last year, Nvidia and OpenAI publicly announced their collaboration at Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California. At that time, the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding, with Nvidia committing to build at least 10 GW of computing power for OpenAI and investing up to $100 billion to help cover related costs, while OpenAI agreed to lease Nvidia chips. OpenAI expected negotiations to be finalized quickly, but as of now, discussions remain in the early stages. Currently, both parties are reassessing the prospects for collaboration, and the latest proposal may shift towards a dollar equity investment in OpenAI's current funding round.Informed sources further revealed that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has privately emphasized in recent months that the initial $100 billion agreement is not binding and is far from finalized. He also criticized OpenAI for lacking sufficient discipline in commercial advancement and expressed concerns about its strong competition with rivals like Anthropic. In response, an OpenAI spokesperson stated, "The details of the collaboration are still being advanced. Nvidia's technology has supported our breakthroughs from the very beginning and drives the current system, and it will remain central as we scale in the future."

According to CoinDesk, citing informed sources, blockchain infrastructure company Zerohash is in negotiations to raise $250 million, with a valuation expected to reach $1.5 billion.The company recently exited acquisition talks with Mastercard; however, the payment giant is still considering a strategic investment in Zerohash, with discussions ongoing. This funding comes at a time when the demand for crypto infrastructure is growing, as more financial institutions begin to offer asset tokenization, stablecoins, and on-chain settlement services on a large scale, leading to a continued rise in market demand for platforms like Zerohash.

Lookonchain posted on platform X that a certain address (0xaa6...3c59) created a new wallet named "mutualdelta," impersonating an insider and betting $40,000 on "the U.S. striking Iran before January 14, 2026." Currently, the address has lost the bet, with a total loss of $40,000.

According to three anonymous sources, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Boozman (Republican-Arkansas) is considering delaying the committee's vote on a landmark cryptocurrency legislation, provided that bipartisan negotiations make substantial progress in the coming days.Boozman currently still plans to advance the consideration of the cryptocurrency market regulatory legislation on January 15. However, he is now open to delaying the vote, depending on the progress of his team's negotiations with the Democratic chief negotiator, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, in the coming days. If both sides achieve a significant breakthrough this weekend, he may delay the vote to seek bipartisan support for the bill.

The chairman of the board of TONX, a company listed on NASDAQ, Manuel Stotz, stated that all TON sold by Telegram has a four-year vesting period. In addition, the main buyer of the tokens sold by Telegram is his company, TONX, which is intended for long-term holding and staking.The Financial Times previously reported that Telegram's revenue in the first half of the year reached $870 million, a 65% year-on-year increase, partly due to the TON ecosystem; the company has sold over $450 million in TON, but Stotz emphasized that Telegram's net TON holdings have not significantly decreased and may even have increased.

According to CoinDesk, on Wednesday, as negotiations on the cryptocurrency market structure bill in the U.S. Senate are set to pause, some leaders in the crypto industry met with key lawmakers. Kara Calvert, Vice President of U.S. Policy at Coinbase, stated after the meeting, "This was a meeting that showcased bipartisan interest and momentum. We will enter the bill amendment phase and need to find areas of compromise to achieve this goal."Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott chaired the meeting, which included industry advocacy groups such as the Blockchain Association, the Digital Chamber of Commerce, and the DeFi Education Fund, as well as Democratic lawmakers, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Scott stated in a statement that senators "are thoughtfully and prudently examining the bill text."Participants noted that this is the last opportunity to clarify positions for 2025, such as the defense of software developers' rights in DeFi. They mentioned that while no new issues were resolved, the groundwork was laid for negotiations in January. Cody Carbon, CEO of the Digital Chamber of Commerce, described the meeting: "While there are still several significant policy issues to resolve, we are optimistic that these obstacles can be cleared, as Senate leaders took the time to meet with us before leaving Washington for the holidays, and they are committed to finding consensus to establish rules for digital assets in the U.S."

According to insider Kate Irwin, cryptocurrency venture capital firm Shima Capital is quietly winding down its operations. Three weeks ago, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the firm and its founder Yida Gao, accusing them of "engaging in a fraudulent scheme" to deceive investors. An email sent to the founders of portfolio companies revealed that Yida Gao is stepping down and shutting down the fund, stating in the email, "I deeply regret my poor decisions and apologize for disappointing everyone."Shima Capital was founded in 2021 with $200 million in funding and had invested in several crypto projects, including Berachain, Monad, and Pudgy Penguins. The SEC alleges that Gao exaggerated investment returns in promotional materials, claiming a return of 90 times on an investment, while the actual return was only 2.8 times. Additionally, Fortune magazine reported that Gao transferred investment funds to an offshore entity wholly owned by him, without disclosing this to investors.The day after the SEC filed the lawsuit, Gao agreed to pay approximately $4 million in settlement.

Blockchain analysis platform Bubblemaps tweeted that the token supply controlled by insiders of the PIPPIN token has reached 80%, valued at approximately $380 million.A new emergence of 16 wallets exhibits the same pattern, with similar funding sources, receiving a comparable amount of SOL, no prior trading history, and large withdrawals of PIPPIN from CEX. Additionally, there is another group of 11 associated wallets that collectively hold about 9% of the total supply, with fund flows highly consistent with the time window, suspected to be controlled by the same entity.

According to PolyBeats, X user skizoexe posted screenshots showing that the Gemini model code-named "fierceFalcon," which was previously exposed in the LM Arena blind test, is suspected to have been confirmed as the upcoming Gemini 3.0 Flash.Based on historical data, the release intervals for the previous three Gemini Flash products were all around 6 months. The Gemini 2.5 Flash, intended for public use, was released on June 17, 2025. This means that, according to the cycle, the release window for Gemini 3.0 Flash is approaching.Currently, the probability in the prediction market for "Will Gemini 3.0 Flash be released before December 18/22/31?" has exceeded 90%.

According to informed sources, as the selection process for the new chair of the Federal Reserve enters its final weeks, Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, has emerged as the top contender to take over the Federal Reserve in the eyes of White House advisors and Trump allies.Anonymous sources indicate that if Hassett is appointed, Trump will place a close ally he knows and trusts in the independent central bank. Some individuals point out that Hassett is seen as someone who can bring Trump's interest rate cut ideas into the Federal Reserve—an institution that Trump has long sought to influence, now facing a historic turning point.However, they also caution that Trump is known for his unpredictable personnel decisions, and everything remains uncertain until the official nomination is announced. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a release, "No one can predict his decisions until President Trump takes action." Fox News White House reporter Edward Lawrence also noted that there is currently no frontrunner in the selection of the next Federal Reserve chair.A senior U.S. official confirmed that the final candidate list has not yet been submitted to the White House. The selection of the Federal Reserve chair and board members has traditionally been the most direct way for a president to influence the central bank. Trump nominated the current chair, Jerome Powell, during his first term, and he expressed deep regret over that decision when Powell did not proceed with rate cuts as expected.Hassett is highly aligned with Trump in economic policy, with both believing that further rate cuts are necessary. (Jin Shi)

According to the Wall Street Journal: Sources say that xAI is in high-level talks with investors to raise $15 billion, which would bring xAI's valuation to $230 billion.Insiders said that Musk's wealth manager, Jared Birchall, disclosed the terms of the new funding round to investors on Tuesday night. CNBC had earlier reported on xAI's fundraising plans, but Musk denied the report, stating that "the information is inaccurate."

According to sources cited by CNBC, xAI has raised $15 billion in its Series E funding round.This round of funding for xAI will close on December 12.

ChainCatcher news, according to Lianhe Zaobao, foreign media disclosed that informed sources said that Alibaba's Ant Group and tech giants like JD.com have suspended their plans to issue stablecoins in Hong Kong.It is reported that Ant Group stated in June this year that it would participate in the Hong Kong stablecoin pilot project, and JD.com also expressed its intention to join the pilot program. Hong Kong passed the "Hong Kong Stablecoin Regulation Draft" in May this year.This regulation officially came into effect on August 1. As of the end of September, a total of 36 institutions have submitted applications for stablecoin licenses.

ChainCatcher news, according to crypto KOL AB Kuai.Dong's post on platform X, multiple sources have confirmed that the Aster team has acquired a portion of KOL round and media round shares that are to be unlocked this time and in the future at a 5% discount. This buyback will significantly slow down the selling pressure on the ASTER token.However, analysis points out that the last similar large-scale buyback was led by SBF's FTX and Alameda, which repurchased unlocked SOL shares at a high multiple from some Solana shareholders and employees.