lme

According to Reuters, the London Metal Exchange (LME), a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, is exploring the tokenization of metal inventories stored in Hong Kong warehouses, making them digital assets that can be used for loan collateral and other financing activities, in line with Hong Kong's strategy to develop an international commodity trading center. LME confirmed that it is currently in the early stages of exploring the tokenization of metal inventories that have not been issued warehouse receipts.Unlike warehouse metal that already has standardized financing mechanisms, this type of inventory currently lacks mature financing channels. Insiders revealed that LME plans to hold a closed-door industry roundtable meeting in early November to discuss the plan. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is also testing carbon credit tokenization to achieve near real-time trade settlement.

Ostium has released a design update on the second phase of the compensation plan for liquidity providers (OLP). This plan offers two compensation mechanisms for users who have losses exceeding 1,000 USDC and have not opted for Convenience Allocation:Default Plan A (USDC Installment Payment): Funding sources include recovered and future recovered funds (distributed proportionally after deducting the first phase portion), a specific share of revenue from the Ostium protocol and Gateway (initially 50% of Ostium opening fees), and potential partner incentives or revenue sharing.Optional Plan B (Ostium Labs Equity Conversion): Users who meet securities regulation requirements can convert part of their unrecovered losses into Ostium Labs equity at the valuation of the next round of financing, with the same class of shares as the team, and a total holding percentage for participating users subject to a fully diluted cap.The second phase portal is scheduled to launch on October 30, and eligible users can proportionally claim the allocated funds from Plan A; if they choose equity conversion, the portion of losses converted to equity will no longer be eligible for subsequent installment payments under Plan A, thereby helping to accelerate the repayment process for the remaining unconverted funds.Ostium emphasizes that this compensation plan is voluntarily initiated by the official and does not guarantee the full recovery of lost funds; specific implementation details and parameter scales are still being refined.

According to Catcher Predict monitoring, in the market prediction on Polymarket for the event "Braga: Thiago Monteiro vs Elmer Moeller," the option "Thiago Monteiro" in the sub-market "Braga: Thiago Monteiro vs Elmer Moeller" experienced a dramatic fluctuation in winning probability, soaring from 13.5% an hour ago to the current 57.6% (a fluctuation of 44.1%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

Volmex has launched the Bitcoin Implied Volatility Index (BVIV) perpetual contract on Hyperliquid. This contract is based on options data from Deribit and OKX, reflecting traders' expectations of Bitcoin's volatility over the next 30 days, without reflecting the direction of the spot price.Recently, the BVIV readings have been in the mid-high range of over 30 points. Each index point of the contract corresponds to a settlement of 1 USDC, using a per-position margin model, supporting a maximum leverage of 5 times, and has an hourly funding rate and a cap on the number of open contracts during the initial launch phase.

HIVE Digital Technologies Executive Chairman Frank Holmes stated in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine that governments around the world will continue to print money, potentially reaching 100 trillion dollars, which makes him optimistic about Bitcoin and gold. He pointed out that Bitcoin miners already possess the electricity, land, and substations required for AI, and referred to Bitcoin mining as a "tier one data center."Holmes introduced that HIVE had previously used GPUs for mining Ethereum to enter the AI field, and he believes the next wave of AI factories will be built on mining infrastructure from Paraguay to Canada. He also discussed how ETFs can transform Bitcoin from "fear trading" to "love trading," as well as how players and the younger quantitative trading community are driving Bitcoin adoption.Additionally, he mentioned Binance's 19 billion dollar liquidation and 350 trillion dollars in money supply, 40 trillion dollars printed during the COVID-19 pandemic, global MMT risks, Bitcoin mining in China with 1.4 trillion dollars in loans, central banks purchasing gold, the Central Bank of Paraguay and Bitcoin mining exports, and computing power as a commodity, along with Canada's AI advancements and the electricity advantages of Bitcoin miners.

Iranian Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian stated that the opening of the Strait of Hormuz depends on whether the conditions proposed by Iran are met, and Iran will not make concessions to the United States on established conditions.Amir-Abdollahian mentioned that Iran has been informed of the preliminary response from the United States regarding the proposal to reopen, but has not yet received specific information from the mediators.

According to Gate market data, as hostilities in the Middle East escalate, industrial metal prices have pulled back. The London Metal Exchange (LME) six-base metal composite index has reached a historic high, with copper and aluminum prices rising, and zinc prices breaking through $4,000 per ton. The intensifying U.S.-Iran conflict has caused Brent crude oil to rebound to nearly $100, heightening inflation concerns.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the predicted market Polymarket for the event "Bonn: Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida vs Federico Agustin Gomez", the option "Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida" in the sub-market "Bonn: Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida vs Federico Agustin Gomez" has experienced a sharp fluctuation in winning probability, dropping from 66.5% an hour ago to the current 44% (a fluctuation of 22.5%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

Justin Ryan Schmidt, the founder of the cryptocurrency investment fund Translunar Crypto LP, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison by a U.S. court for tax evasion. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that the 46-year-old Schmidt pleaded guilty this year in federal court in Austin, Texas, where he was accused of underreporting income, declaring less than $5,000 in income from 2020 to 2022, while prosecutors claimed he actually earned over $7 million through fund operations from 2019 to 2022.It is reported that Schmidt founded Translunar in 2017, primarily investing in blockchain startups, with funding mainly coming from investors in the Austin area of Texas and Aspen, Colorado. He was arrested by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division on February 23, 2026, and has been in custody since then.

According to on-chain data monitoring, the Humanity Protocol ($H) Foundation's related addresses have completed the planned token transfers, involving a "3:10" structured hedging profit-taking plan aimed at early investors, with a token scale exceeding 540 million. According to the previously announced schedule, the related tokens will officially enter the unlocking process on June 25, marking that the plan has completed the preparatory work for payment and has entered the formal performance stage.Previously, Humanity Protocol underwent a series of ecological recovery processes due to a hacking incident, including promoting a 1:1 exchange of new and old tokens for real holding users on exchanges, and implementing KYC and AML compliance verification for the abnormal on-chain issuance chips generated after the attack to reduce market circulation risks. The timely advancement of this unlocking plan is seen as an important progress node for the project in fulfilling commitments to investors and restoring ecological order after the security incident.Humanity Protocol mainly focuses on AI identity verification and Web3 identity infrastructure. As the demand for AI agents, real-person verification, anti-witch attacks, and on-chain identity applications continues to grow, this sector still has long-term development potential. If Humanity Protocol can continue to promote product and application implementation after completing token migration and ecological recovery, its subsequent performance will still attract market attention.

According to official news, the AI Agent platform HolmesAI announced that its registered users have officially surpassed 4 million, and simultaneously launched a new product form called Coding Agent. This product aims to expand the application scenarios of "digital avatars" from social interactions to coding and development fields. Users can generate their own Coding Persona by importing Markdown documents and attach it to the Agent to execute development tasks.It is reported that HolmesAI has accumulated a total of $8 million in financing to date, with investors including well-known institutions such as Bitrise Capital, IBG Capital, Generative Ventures, Waterdrip Capital, and CGV Fund. HashKey Group also participated in early incubation support.The official stated that with the launch of the new product, HolmesAI has officially entered the Pre-TGE stage. From now until June 30, the platform will offer free creation benefits for Coding Agent and provide a daily quota of 100,000 Tokens for calls. In addition, HolmesAI will collaborate with Web3 ecosystem partners in the coming weeks to continuously launch multiple rounds of airdrops and limited-time benefits as part of Pre-TGE community incentive activities.

The AI Agent platform HolmesAI announced that it has successfully completed a new round of strategic financing of $5 million, with participation from institutions such as Bitrise Capital, CatcherVC, Cryptomeria Capital, Generative Ventures, and IBG Capital.HolmesAI stated that as of now, the number of registered users on the platform has exceeded 1 million, the number of Personas has surpassed 1.56 million, and the interaction data has reached 36.36 million entries. The platform deeply replicates users' tone, knowledge, and decision-making logic through its Persona system, aiming to create digital avatars. This round of $5 million financing will mainly be used to promote the assetization and multifunctionality of digital avatars, with plans to utilize blockchain technology for rights confirmation and extend the core engine from social scenarios to trading and prediction markets, empowering investment decisions. In addition, the platform plans to launch stablecoin pre-deposits and NFT sales activities in the near future.Kevin, co-founder of Bitrise Capital, expressed his belief that in the future, everyone will have a valuable AI avatar and is optimistic about HolmesAI's forward-looking exploration in defining the era of "digital avatars."HolmesAI is an AI Agent platform dedicated to enabling everyone to have their own digital avatar. Through its unique Persona system, HolmesAI helps users replicate their thinking and wisdom, creating the most similar AI Agent to themselves, while truly owning the sovereignty and profit rights of that digital avatar.

UBS analysts stated that the current pullback in the gold market is only a temporary phenomenon, and gold prices are still expected to reach $4,200 per ounce; in an optimistic scenario, prices could even surge to $4,700 per ounce if geopolitical or market risks escalate."The long-awaited market pullback has temporarily calmed down," UBS said in a research report released on Monday, "Aside from technical factors, we have not found any fundamental support for this sell-off."The Swiss banking giant pointed out that "the weakening price momentum has triggered a second round of decline in futures positions," but emphasized that the potential demand for gold remains strong.UBS analysts also cited the World Gold Council's "Q3 Gold Demand Trends Report," which confirmed that "the demand for gold purchases from both central banks and individual investors remains strong and continues to heat up."

ChainCatcher news, according to PR Newswire, the US-listed biopharmaceutical company Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. announced the implementation of a digital asset management strategy, with plans to allocate $10 million (approximately 50% of current cash reserves) for digital asset investments.The company has established a cryptocurrency committee responsible for evaluating and overseeing cryptocurrency-related investment activities. This strategy will include digital asset portfolio rebalancing, participation in liquidity provision, staking yields, and risk hedging strategies.To execute this plan, Galmed has signed a letter of intent with cryptocurrency asset management service provider Tectona (TASE: TECT), which will provide consulting and operational services.

ChainCatcher news, according to official information from PayPal, the company will launch its payment service in physical stores in Germany this summer. This is the first time PayPal has introduced a payment feature in physical stores in Germany, allowing users to make payments at merchants that support Mastercard contactless payments through the PayPal App (iOS and Android).The service includes three main features: first, contactless payments via mobile phone; second, the launch of the PayPal Ratenzahlung To Go installment payment service, supporting installments of 3, 6, 12, and 24 months; third, users can activate offers in the PayPal App to receive cashback when using contactless payments at designated merchants in Germany.Joerg Kablitz, Managing Director of PayPal Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, stated that this is PayPal's largest product development investment in Germany to date, and the service will be rolled out nationwide in the coming weeks.

ChainCatcher news, Bitget wallet's official spokesperson KajiQ stated during the roundtable discussion on "2025 New Trends in Crypto" at the "Web3 Future Night" event that the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF has brought short-term trading opportunities and is one of the important reasons driving BTC close to $100,000. However, it has also weakened the independence and speculative nature of the crypto market.She also pointed out that Trump has released many favorable signals, but the mid-term realization efficiency is insufficient, making it difficult to support a sustained upward trend. At the same time, altcoins have not significantly benefited under the macro favorable conditions.It is reported that the "Web3 Future Night" event is co-hosted by ChainCatcher and the digital asset platform CoinUp.io, and is a high-end social feast in the crypto field, bringing together ideas and business opportunities.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Judge Jeong Woo-Yong of the 9th Criminal Division of the Southern District Court of Seoul ruled that Mr. Kim was acquitted of charges of obstructing official duties by deception.On December 18, 2024, prosecutors requested a six-month prison sentence for Mr. Kim, accusing him of declaring total assets of 1.2 billion won (834,000 USD) in 2021, while actually holding nearly 9.9 billion won (6.8 million USD) in cryptocurrency. Prosecutors claimed that Mr. Kim obstructed the Ethics Committee's review of lawmakers' assets due to potential conflicts of interest arising from his holdings.However, Judge Jeong ruled at the time that, under the Korean Public Service Ethics Act, virtual assets are currently not subject to mandatory disclosure. The court found it difficult to determine that the lawmaker had an obligation to disclose his assets.

ChainCatcher news, Greeks.Live analyst Adam posted that Bitcoin has retraced after failing to breach the $100,000 mark, with ETF funds continuing to flow out. Trump is about to officially take office as President of the United States, but major speculative markets are filled with risk-averse sentiment, leading to significant declines in U.S. stocks. Next week (January 13 to 19), the market focus will be on the release of the U.S. CPI data on Wednesday. This will be the most important macro data before Trump's inauguration, and the market is now waiting for the various promises made by Trump to be fulfilled.In the options market, due to ample institutional margins, there is a large sell-off whenever there is an opportunity to sell, resulting in a noticeable decline in short- to medium-term implied volatility (IV). From the options trading perspective, large bullish options trades are active, mainly used to supplement institutional short positions, with January options being relatively undervalued and March options being relatively overvalued.In addition, new EU regulations require cryptocurrency exchanges to comply with travel rule guidelines and strengthen anti-money laundering measures, with exchanges like Deribit needing to improve KYC to operate normally. In the interest rate market, Bitfinex's interest rate market has recently performed steadily, and it is recommended to actively trade at appropriate rates, especially during market volatility.