As Bitcoin surpasses $100,000 and enters a period of consolidation, the prices of certain altcoins, excluding Bitcoin, related to President Trump are showing selective increases. Over the past week, Bitcoin's price rose 3.06% to record $100,000, while Ethereum is trading around $3,900, up 2.43%. In particular, it has been reported that World Liberty Financial, operated by the Trump family, purchased a total of $12 million in Ethereum, Chainlink, and Aave, leading to price increases for these tokens.
In the altcoin market, stocks influenced by the Trump family's purchase news showed strong gains. Over the past week, Bitget Token surged 62.6%, marking the highest rise, followed by ▲Aave 48.22%, ▲Chainlink 25.95%, and ▲Uniswap 17.51%. World Liberty Financial is known to have strategically acquired these tokens to build a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, raising interest in the potential for further price increases of DeFi-related tokens.
◇ 'Tax deferral for virtual assets' signal turned on in South Korea
South Korea's virtual asset policy is shifting toward a market-friendly direction. The National Assembly has decided to extend the tax deferral on virtual assets for another two years until 2027, and financial authorities are actively reviewing a plan to allow corporations to open accounts at virtual asset exchanges. This is evaluated as a balanced policy aimed at supporting the healthy growth of the virtual asset market while securing institutional stability.
The taxation, which was scheduled to be implemented in 2025, primarily involved a tax rate of 20% on annual profits exceeding 2.5 million won. The government decided on the additional deferral to support the asset formation of the younger generation, who are key participants in the virtual asset market, and to promote organic market growth. At the same time, financial authorities plan to gradually permit corporate account openings starting from non-profit entities such as central governments, local governments, and public institutions, with a long-term goal of expanding to general corporations and financial companies.
While this policy decision has laid the groundwork for quantitative growth in the domestic virtual asset market, there are still challenges that need to be addressed. The weakening of industrial competitiveness due to inadequate domestic regulations and systems compared to foreign virtual asset companies must be resolved, and particularly, the lack of a market maker system in centralized exchanges has led to liquidity shortages that, as demonstrated during the recent state of emergency, make the market vulnerable to price volatility and result in investor losses. It is now a critical time to establish specific industrial promotion policies for qualitative growth in the market, leveraging this positive policy decision.
◇ NFT market recovering again amid regulatory easing
The NFT market is undergoing a new turning point with the announcement of token issuances from major non-fungible token (NFT) projects and key marketplaces. The token of the NFT marketplace, Magic Eden (ME), attracted significant attention as it was listed simultaneously on major exchanges along with airdrops for users, and the Ethereum blue-chip NFT, Pudgy Penguins, drew focus by announcing its own token launch during 2024. Immediately after the announcement, the minimum price for Pudgy Penguins NFTs surged by 86.9%, now recording 26.7 ETH (approximately 147 million won) each.
The renewed vitality in the NFT market is also linked to expectations of regulatory easing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace in the Ethereum ecosystem, has delayed token issuance due to regulatory issues, but following President Trump's election, there is growing anticipation for a change in the SEC's stance.
Seung-ho Choi, a researcher at the Research Institute, noted that "the volatility observed after Bitcoin's surpassing $100,000 appears to be due to supply and demand factors, such as profit-taking, rather than a specific macro event" and stated that "the upward trend in related themes continues following Trump's election." He further analyzed, "The consumer price index (CPI) and initial unemployment claims released this week have raised the possibility of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut, and unless there are significant surprises in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the strong trend of Trump-related themes is expected to continue."
☞ CrossAngle
provides essential operational solutions based on on-chain data and community-building services for companies and foundations adopting Web3. It operates the crypto data intelligence platform, Jinggle, and the Jinggle research team creates content to showcase trends in the virtual asset investment industry based on global virtual asset information and data.