Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today, in crypto, a new study ranked Singapore as the world’s leading blockchain innovation hub, Turkey’s new cryptocurrency regulations mandate that users provide identification for transactions over 15,000 Turkish lira ($425), starting Feb. 25, 2025, and BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF saw its biggest-ever outflow just before Christmas.

Singapore is the world’s most blockchain-friendly country: Research

A new research report ranked Singapore as the world’s leading blockchain innovation hub based on patents, industry jobs, and cryptocurrency exchanges.

ApeX Protocol’s study ranked the 10 most innovative blockchain hubs in the world—Singapore, Hong Kong, Estonia, Switzerland, United States, Canada, Australia, South Korea, United Kingdom, and UAE. 

Singapore stood out for having 1,600 blockchain patents, 2,433 industry jobs, and crypto exchanges—despite only having a population of less than 6 million. 

Hong Kong ranked a close second thanks to its strong financial technology. Meanwhile, Estonia also punched above its weight, ranking third, thanks to a large number of blockchain patents and crypto exchanges relative to its population. 

The US ranked fifth, despite strong regulatory hurdles facing the country’s crypto industry. Executives and lawmakers are hopeful that the US could become the crypto capital of the world following the election of Donald Trump in November. 

So far, Trump has stuck to his promise of supporting the crypto industry, having recently appointed Paul Atkins as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Turkey introduces stricter crypto AML regulations

Turkey introduced new cryptocurrency regulations inspired by positive regulatory developments in the world’s major jurisdictions, including Europe. 

Under the new regime, users executing transactions of more than 15,000 Turkish lira ($425) will be required to share their identifying information with the country’s crypto service providers, according to a Dec. 25 document issued by the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey.

Crypto service providers are not required to collect information for digital asset transfers below the $425 threshold. Turkey’s new regulations are set to go into effect on Feb. 25, 2025.

IBIT sees record bleed on Christmas Eve

BlackRock’s Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETFs) saw its largest-ever single-day outflow on Dec. 24 amid the fourth straight trading day of outflows for the 12 United States Bitcoin funds.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) hit $188.7 million in outflows on Christmas Eve, beating its previous record outflow day of $72.7 million set just days earlier on Dec. 20, per CoinGlass data.

All 12 US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw joint total outflows hit $338.4 million on the day and have seen joint net outflows of $1.52 billion in the trading days since Dec. 19.

The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) was the only one to see a pre-Christmas inflow of $8.5 million.

The Ether (ETH) ETFs, meanwhile, have seen continued momentum with a second day of inflows totaling $53.6 million, coming after a $130.8 million inflow on Dec. 23. 

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