Solana (SOL) hits 20 month highs above $118

Last week, Solana experienced a 54% surge, propelling it to become one of the four largest cryptocurrencies.

The Solana blockchain team reflected on the year.

Bitcoin is currently stabilizing at a price point below $45,000.

The difficulty of mining Bitcoin has reached a new record high.

The crypto industry was accused of fraud by the head of the SEC.

The difficulty of mining the first cryptocurrency increased by 7% as a result of the next recalculation, reaching a maximum of 72.01 T. The average hashrate for the period since the previous change in value was 512.55 EH/s.

Gary Gensler, the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has accused the crypto industry of not meeting regulatory standards. He stated that there is an "excessive amount of fraud and bankruptcies" in the sector.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has declared that cryptocurrencies are the future of money, and that this future is already here as digital assets become increasingly popular globally, regardless of the stance of governments.

After the elections, the Argentine government "ratified and confirmed" that Bitcoin can be used as a currency for contracts and payments. This decree should help to reform the nation's economic system.

The Hong Kong government has changed their stance and declared their willingness to accept spot Bitcoin ETFs in addition to the already existing futures exchange-traded funds.

Belgium, set to assume the presidency of the EU Council on January 1, has declared its intention to create a cross-border blockchain infrastructure.

Elon Musk has announced that Social Network X is expecting to receive licenses to provide financial services in both the fiat and cryptocurrency markets, with the launch of their payment service scheduled for mid-2024.

The Solana blockchain team reflected on the year and gave a yearly summary of events, such as the Bonk (BONK) meme token craze, the introduction of the Saga Web3 smartphone, the incorporation of artificial intelligence, and the formation of institutional partnerships.

Michael van de Poppe, the founder of MN Trading, has declared that this is an ideal moment to purchase altcoins. He also highlighted the Solana and Injective ecosystems as being at the vanguard of positive movements.

Arthur Hayes, the ex-CEO of the BitMEX crypto exchange, recently revealed that he had sold all his SOL coin reserves, which he had been praising, and instead purchased Ethereum.

On January 17, 2024, Paxos, a blockchain infrastructure company, announced the launch of the USDP stablecoin on the Solana network. Initially, USDP was only available on the Ethereum network. Solana representatives highlighted that the integration of their blockchain will increase transaction speed and reduce fees.

In 2024, the Ethereum blockchain team will initiate the Dencun hard fork on test networks during the first two months. If the launch is successful, the mainnet will be updated with Dencun at the end of February.