Aethir, Beam Foundation, and MetaStreet Launch $40M Tactical Compute Initiative.

Aethir, Beam Foundation, and MetaStreet have teamed up to launch Tactical Compute, a $40 million initiative aimed at addressing the growing light on computing power in both AI and the public sector. The collaboration leverages Aethir’s decentralized GPU, Beam’s investment strategy, and MetaStreet’s decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure to create new opportunities for monetizing computing resources. Tactical Compute will operate under Tactical Compute Holding Limited, focusing on various computing-related opportunities such as hardware financing, private arbitrage, and initial network setup, as outlined in a recent Medium post by Beam.

The initiative aims to address the growing interest in computing resources in the international crypto-focused innovation space. Tactical Compute aims to identify profitable opportunities in the computing market, including a unique approach to “farming” Aethir tokens. This process is similar to earning credits for using Aethir GPUs, like how Microsoft offers Azure credits for its cloud services. By following these strategies, Tactical Compute aims to balance the dynamics of light and supply in the compute space, ultimately bringing usage to both the AI ​​and cooling communities.

 

PEPE Surpasses $11B Market Cap

The meme-class PEPE Coin has been on a massive run, with PEPE rising 5% on December 8th to $0.00002747, pushing its market cap to over $11 billion. With over 28% weekly gains, PEPE has outperformed giants Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) in weekly price gains. On December 8, 2024, PEPE, the second-largest meme coin on slow Ethereum, rose to a new all-time high. The rise raises potential speculation about crypto policy changes in the Donald Trump administration, as noted by analysts at Bernstein.

These changes favor exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to track the market prices of PoS coins like Ethereum and stake their assets to generate additional yield for the downside. This event marks a smooth transition in the regulatory approach to crypto ETFs. Expectations, along with Donald Trump's appointment of Paul Atkins as SEC chairman, have led to large inflows into Ethereum ETFs in an absolute week.

 

Telegram creator Pavel Durov officially subpoenaed by Paris court

On December 6, 2024, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was officially questioned by French authorities for the first time, writes Cointelegraph. The source of the assumption is that the developer arrived at the Paris courthouse at 10 a.m. local time and left a few hours later.

When providing information, the interrogation concerned accusations of improper use of the messenger to carry out illegal transactions. At the same time, the distribution of pornography and drugs through Telegram, aiding in money laundering and many other illegal activities are quickly listed.

Answering the question about the trial, Durov said that he "trusts the French justice system." At the same time, the programmer refused to comment on the situation with the interrogation. Journalists note that during his visit to the court, the Telegram founder was accompanied by his lawyers - David-Olivier Kaminski and Christophe Ingrain.

 

Cardano Foundation's X Account Hacked to Post Fake SEC Lawsuit, Promote Scam

On December 8, 2024, Cardano Foundation's X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked by unknown individuals. Shortly after, the page began posting posts promoting the dummy ADASOL token, as well as fake messages about a lawsuit from the US regulator.

Cybersecurity experts note the hackers' unusual actions. As a rule, after a hack, scam posts stand out quite a bit from other posts. However, in this case, the creators of the scheme used a thorough approach, analysts noted.

The hackers provided lengthy instructions and a carefully thought-out story for the post about the dummy token. A total of 13 posts explained the purpose of the asset, had links to real Cardano resources, and even pointed to a stream during which project representatives allegedly discussed the coin. According to DEX Screener, the fake token's trading volume exceeded $500,000 before traders figured out what was going on. The posts were posted on the hacked account for about an hour before they were deleted.

 

Floki and Mastercard Launch Cryptocurrency Debit Card in Europe

The Floki team has announced the launch of a prepaid crypto card that will allow you to use digital assets to pay for everyday goods and services at any point where Visa and Mastercard are accepted. Floki Card will be available in virtual and physical forms. The new financial product will be available in almost all European countries. Users will be able to top up the Floki Card directly from cryptocurrency addresses using assets in 8 blockchain networks, including BTC, ETH, BNB, TON, SOL and NOT cryptocurrencies, DOGS and FLOKI meme coins, the HMSTR token of the popular Hamster Kombat app, as well as USDC, USDT, EURT, and XAUT stablecoins. The fee for topping up an account is 2%. There are no transaction or asset conversion fees. There is a one-time fee for issuing the card. The daily limit on the card is 5000 USDT. The Floki team warns that Mastercard or issuing banks may limit the provision of their services in certain countries, regions or even for certain merchants at their sole discretion. In addition, individual merchants and payment service providers (PSPs) may refuse to accept prepaid virtual debit cards on an individual basis.

 

Elon Musk Becomes First Person in History to Surpass $400 Billion

American businessman Elon Musk has become the first person in history to surpass $400 billion in wealth.

Bloomberg writes about this. The latest sale of SpaceX shares increased his wealth by $50 billion at once, to $439.2 billion in total.

Musk's wealth has been growing rapidly since the end of 2022. The value of Musk's numerous businesses has increased sharply after Republican Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election drew attention to the billionaire. He added $26.5 billion to his wealth one day after the election. This happened thanks to the growth of Tesla Inc. shares.

Thus, Tesla shares have grown by 65% ​​compared to the pre-election period, thanks to expectations that Trump will cancel benefits for electric cars that help Tesla's competitors.

Meanwhile, the value of xAI has more than doubled since its last fundraising in May, to $50 billion. As the Wall Street Journal points out, Trump's victory helped stimulate new investor interest.

 

Avalanche Raises $250 Million from Galaxy

The Avalanche Foundation recently raised $250 million in a token sale for blockchain development. This time, the lead investors were Dragonfly, Galaxy Digital, and ParaFi Capital, and were joined by more than 40 other firms. Among them are Morgan Creek Digital and SkyBridge, which, judging by their activity, are confident that the market is poised for significant growth.

The foundation’s representatives say their actions are unrelated to a lack of funds. According to Forbes, the foundation already has about 3 billion AVAX tokens at its disposal.

This is not Avalanche’s first major capital-raising initiative. In December 2021, during the previous bull market, the foundation raised $230 million through a token sale.