Today in crypto, El Salvador is sitting on unrealized gains of more than $330 million on its Bitcoin investment, according to the country’s president, several crypto industry executives have voiced frustration over United States Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw’s looming renomination date, and Pepe has flipped Uniswap’s UNI token to hit a new all-time high.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin gains top $300 million
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele highlighted the country’s unrealized gains from its Bitcoin investments on social media after the cryptocurrency surpassed $100,000 for the first time.
On Dec. 5, Bitcoin BTCUSD reached $100,000 for the first time, sparking celebrations within the crypto community. That same day, Autism Capital, a crypto-focused account on X, asked Bukele to share El Salvador’s Bitcoin portfolio to “dunk on the haters.” Bukele responded by posting the country’s BTC holdings on X.
Bukele’s latest update shows the country has spent nearly $270 million on Bitcoin since its initial adoption of the cryptocurrency. The portfolio shows no Bitcoin has been sold, and unrealized gains now exceed $333 million.
Crypto industry fears “vehemently anti crypto” Caroline Crenshaw SEC vote
The US Senate Banking Committee will vote on Dec. 11 whether to renominate SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, a vocal crypto skeptic. Several industry executives have voiced frustration over the possibility of her reelection.
Crenshaw was one of two SEC commissioners to vote against the approval of spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETF) in January.
“Caroline Crenshaw is anti-crypto. She even embarrassingly opposed Bitcoin ETFs. The SEC has to change,” crypto exchange Coinbase president and chief operating officer Emilie Choi said in a Dec. 7 X post.
Crypto investment firm Paradigm government affairs vice president Alexander Grieve said it was “one last “gift” for crypto on the way out the door, Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown is trying to ram through the renomination of anti-crypto SEC commissioner Caroline Crenshaw.”
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said in a Dec. 7 X post that Crenshaw wasn’t just “an ally” to SEC chair and crypto skeptic Gary Gensler but was even more “vehemently anti-crypto” than Gensler himself.
Following the SEC approving the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States on Jan. 10, Crenshaw, who was sworn in as an SEC commissioner in August 2020, said that the agency’s move to greenlight the ETFs was “unsound and ahistorical.”
Pepe hits new all-time high
The Pepe (PEPE) memecoin hit a new all-time high and flipped Uniswap’s UNI token in terms of market capitalization on Dec. 7, as memecoins continue to capture investor attention.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, Pepe recorded 16.8% gains over the past 24 hours and managed to surge by approximately 26% over the past seven days.
Pepe now boasts an impressive market capitalization of over $11 billion and has grown by roughly 18x since the start of 2024.
The frog-themed memecoin experienced a historic rally during November 2024, along with many other cryptocurrencies, following the electoral victory of Donald Trump on Nov. 5.