1. Popular currencies on CEX
CEX top 10 trading volume and 24-hour rise and fall:
BTC: +3.04%
ETH: +5.41%
XRP: +11.11%
DOGE: +4.8%
SOL: +9%
ADA: +4.83%
XLM: +8.9%
BNB: +1.1%
SUI: +3.65%
LTC: +11.96%
24-hour price increase list (data source: OKX)
AIXBT: +35.6%
PHA: +25.3%
MORPHO: +21.1%
OL: +15.8%
ALGO: +15%
X: +14%
SUSHI: +13.14%
PRCL: +12.8%
WIF: +12.8%
LDO: +12%
2. Top 5 popular memes on the chain (data source: GMGN ):
sora
SOLFUNMEME
LUMO
ORION
CatTax
3. 24-hour hot search currencies
CatTax: A concept of Xiaohongshu. After a large number of TikTok users flocked in, they posted cat pictures on Xiaohongshu, which was called paying cat tax.
XRP: Continues to hit new historical highs, with market value exceeding US$180 billion.
Headlines
SendAI announces Solana AI Hackathon results:
1st place: The Hive (@askthehive_ai)
2nd Place: FXN (@joinFXN)
3rd Place: JailbreakMe (@jailbreakme_xyz)
In 15 days, more than 400 projects competed for more than US$275,000 in prize money, and 21 projects were selected.
Jupiter: JUPuary Airdrop Checker is now live
Solana ecosystem decentralized exchange Jupiter announced on the X platform that the JUPuary airdrop checker is now online.
According to previous news, Jupiter will airdrop 700 million JUP in January, and the number of eligible wallets is about 2.3 million.
Industry News
VanEck submits on-chain economy ETF application to the US SEC
Asset management company VanEck submitted an application for the Onchain Economy exchange-traded fund (ETF) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 15. According to the document, the fund will invest in cryptocurrency companies across the industry, including software developers, mining companies, cryptocurrency exchanges, infrastructure builders, payment companies, and other businesses in the cryptocurrency field. The asset manager defines these companies as digital transformation companies and wrote: The selection of digital transformation companies is based on fundamental analysis, market trends, the companys strategic positioning in the digital asset ecosystem, and valuation. The fund will also invest in digital asset instruments such as commodity futures contracts, but will not invest directly in digital assets by holding cryptocurrencies.
Republican Senator Tim Scott, the newly elected chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, announced that developing a regulatory framework for digital assets will be one of the top priorities of the 119th Congress. In a notice dated January 15, Tim Scott stated that the Banking Committee intends to focus on financial inclusion policies that create opportunities for the United States. The committees priorities include affordable housing, economic national security, regulation, and digital assets. He stated: Under the leadership of current Chairman Gensler, the SEC has refused to provide clarity to the cryptocurrency industry, forcing projects to turn overseas. Looking ahead, the committee will work to establish a regulatory framework that establishes a tailored path for the trading and custody of digital assets.
The annual rate of the US core CPI in December was 3.2%, the lowest since August 2024, and the market expected it to remain at 3.3%. After the release of the CPI data, the US dollar index DXY fell more than 40 points in the short term to 108.74. (Jinshi)
Project News
Sonic Labs: S token airdrop is linked to the points program, and there are 3 ways to obtain it
Sonic Labs (formerly Fantom) published a detailed explanation of the Sonic Points Program on the X platform, which mentioned that users need to obtain Sonic Points by holding and using whitelisted assets in various DeFi applications. The points are divided into:
Passive Points: Earned by holding whitelisted assets in a Web3 wallet (such as Rabby or MetaMask, including hardware wallets). Note: Assets held on centralized exchanges are not counted.
Activity Points: Earn activity points by deploying whitelisted assets into participating DApps as liquidity.
Both ways of earning points have nothing to do with the application you use. You can earn points by simply holding whitelisted assets or deploying them as liquidity in any participating application.
Dapps Points
The airdrop includes a separate developer-focused component, where DApps compete for an allotment of so-called Sonic Gems, which can be redeemed for S Tokens, which are then distributed to users through its custom points program.
As a user, the main task is to find the application with the best points plan to increase liquidity benefits and possible earnings on the application. In addition, the official has repeatedly emphasized the details of the whitelisted assets.
Gravity G token staking qualified users can now receive $SEI token airdrops
Gravity tweeted that G token stakers can now go to the airdrop claim window to claim $SEI tokens. The first round of airdrop bonus pool is 345,000 $SEI. Gravity calculates the amount of airdrop rewards that users can claim based on their staked holdings at the time of the snapshot.
The first round of $SEI token snapshot time is: December 20, 10 pm Beijing time.
The airdrop claim time is: January 15, 10:00 pm Beijing time. The claim window is open for 1 month. G token pledge users can enter the pledge page to claim rewards.
Binance Alpha Adds AIMONICA, VITA, and GRIFT Tokens
The official page shows that Binance Alpha has added AIMONICA, VITA and GRIFT tokens.
AI agent development framework Arc will work with Abstract Chain to achieve EVM compatibility
Arc, an AI agent development framework based on the Rust language, announced in an article on X that it will cooperate with Abstract Chain to bring EVM compatibility to rig (the name of arcs framework). Both parties will jointly cultivate new developers to build AI applications on Abstract.
Investment and Financing
1 Money completes $20 million seed round of financing, with Kraken Ventures and others participating
1 Money announced the completion of a $20 million seed round of financing, with F-Prime Capital, Galaxy Ventures, Hack VC, Kraken Ventures, MoonPay Ventures and Bankless Ventures participating. The new funds will be used to launch 1 Money Network, a next-generation payment network designed to be a cheap, compliant layer 1 protocol dedicated to stablecoin payments. (TheBlock)
Reown (formerly WalletConnet) completes $13 million Series B financing, led by USV and 1kx
Reown (formerly WalletConnect) announced the completion of a $13 million Series B financing round, led by Union Square Ventures (USV) and 1kx, with participation from Global Digital Asset Holdings (a joint venture investment company established by SC Ventures and SBI Holdings), Shopify Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Crypto.com Capital, Figment, Kiln, Everstake, BitGo Ventures and Fenbushi. As of now, the companys total financing amount has reached $38 million. The new funds are intended to be used to build its SDK - Reown AppKit and Reown WalletKit to further develop the on-chain user experience platform, solve problems such as using crypto subscription payments without using a custodial account, and its crypto solution customers include financial infrastructure platform Stripe and gift card giant Raise. (CityBiz)
Regulatory trends
Judge orders BitMEX to pay $100 million for violating US banking laws
A federal judge in the United States has sentenced HDR Global Trading Limited, also known as the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, to two years of non-supervisory probation and a $100 million fine. Judge John Koeltl handed down the sentence against BitMEX during a hearing on Jan. 15 at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The ruling comes about six months after the cryptocurrency exchange pleaded guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by operating without “any meaningful” anti-money laundering program. In July 2024, the cryptocurrency company called the charges “old news” and suggested that no further fines were expected at the time. In a statement to users following the verdict, BitMEX reiterated its claim that the BSA charges were old news, adding: “While we are disappointed with the additional financial penalty, this amount is significantly less than the fines the Department of Justice has levied against us in over three years.”
US regulator fines Block and Cash $80 million
According to the official announcement, in a coordinated enforcement action by financial regulators in 48 states in the United States, Block, Inc. will pay a fine of $80 million and take corrective measures to correct violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws, which protect the financial system from illegal use. It is reported that more than 50 million consumers use Blocks mobile payment service Cash App to consume, transfer money, store and invest. In the interstate settlement agreement signed this week, Block agreed to pay fines to state agencies, hire independent consultants to review the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of its BSA/AML program, and submit reports to the states within 9 months. After the report is submitted, Block will have 12 months to correct any loopholes found in the review.
Character Voice
Delphi Digital releases top 10 predictions for 2025, including BTC, Solana, DeAI, DePIN, and zkVM
Delphi Digital released the top ten predictions for 2025 on the X platform, specifically:
1. BTC has more room for growth in 2025. The monthly RSI between 70-90 will be a bull market. Institutions and supervision will be the catalyst for this BTC rise.
2. Solana will surpass Ethereum. Solana has a better user experience and content narrative. SVM is the fastest growing alt-vm ecosystem, which helps to enhance network effects.
3. NFT will make a comeback. The airdrops of Fat Penguin, Milady and Azuki may trigger other NFT projects to follow suit.
4. DeFi is upgraded to DeAI, changing the way users interact with DeFi;
5. AI Agent becomes a first-tier VC. In the future, PvP will no longer be between users, but will be conducted by agents. In 2025, at least 3 agent frameworks will become unicorns.
6. High-throughput chains will drive innovation, with attention paid to Hyperliquid, Sui, Monad, Berachain and MegaETH;
7. DePIN will make a comeback. A large-scale DePIN project has successfully achieved self-sufficiency, which has led to an increase in the evaluation of the entire DePIN track. Helium, Doublezero and Hivemapper are worth paying attention to. Attention should also be paid to healthcare and power grid operation.
8. 2025 is the year of transformation for zkVM. zkVM will improve the interoperability between rollups and expand the developer market.
9. AI will bring new opportunities to GameFi, such as AI-driven development tools, AI NPCs, and the integration of Virtual Game Framework and Eliza with Unreal and Unity may change the rules of the game for AI games;
10. Consumer DeFi will be the next frontier. For example, zkTLS will allow Web2 data to be on-chain, and as the incentives of issuers and distributors are aligned, the scale of revenue-sharing stablecoins will expand.
