Today's news tips:
VINE's market value briefly exceeded $200 million and is now $165 million
Chainalysis: 94% of TRUMP and MELANIA are held by about 40 whales
U.S. Marshals Sold Ross Ulbricht’s 144,000 Confiscated Bitcoins for $334 Each
BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin could reach $700,000 amid currency devaluation concerns
Cathie Wood: Trump is part of a new phase of the crypto revolution and may be useful in the future
Truth Terminal established a foundation and completed $FARTCOIN OTC transactions
Bithumb to List ARDR and QKC in Korean Won Market
Regulatory/Macro
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has invested millions in crypto-related Brazilian bank Nu Holdings
According to Fortune magazine, Berkshire Hathaway CEO and Chairman Buffett has repeatedly made clear his position on cryptocurrencies and has never concealed his dislike for cryptocurrencies, but recent actions show that Berkshire Hathaway and some other investment managers may be gradually accepting cryptocurrencies. It is reported that Berkshire Hathaway has invested millions of dollars in Nu Holdings Ltd., a Brazilian bank related to cryptocurrency. The bank's stock has risen 34% year-on-year. The company has its own cryptocurrency platform and supports the cryptocurrency market. According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Berkshire Hathaway's holdings of Nu shares rose from 0.1% in the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2022 to 0.4% in the third quarter of fiscal 2024. This means that as of the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2025, Berkshire Hathaway held more than 86 million shares of Nu stock, worth nearly $1.2 billion, and Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are benefiting from an industry enterprise that he claimed not to know much about in the past. Now that Berkshire Hathaway appears to be making cryptocurrency-related investments, Buffett may need to rewrite his previous statement that cryptocurrencies will not have a significant impact.
Nasdaq's official X account was suspected to be hacked and used to promote fake Meme coins
According to The Block, Nasdaq's official X account was hacked and used to promote a fraudulent Meme coin. The hacker linked a fake X account as an affiliated account of Nasdaq and used the official Nasdaq account to repost its posts, promoting a Meme coin called STONKS created on the same day. The post has been deleted and the fake X account has been suspended. The Meme coin appears to be an imitator of an existing Meme coin of the same name on Solana, which owns the intellectual property rights of the meme. According to data from DEXscreener, the market value of the fake Meme coin STONKSD soared to $80 million, but collapsed shortly afterwards. The incident fits the pattern of well-known X accounts being hacked to promote scam tokens, which has previously occurred involving celebrities and institutions.
French media @LeFildInfo released an update saying that we have obtained the latest important information about the Ledger case. A detailed post will be released soon. Earlier yesterday, the media disclosed that Ledger founder Eric Larch was suspected of being kidnapped and the kidnappers demanded a Bitcoin ransom. However, Cointelegraph reported that a person close to the Ledger founder responded to the warning: the X account of the late technology entrepreneur John McAfee was suspected of being hacked and the token contract was released
The X-T account of the late technology entrepreneur John McAfee is suspected to have been hacked. The attacker impersonated McAfee and claimed to "return" and published the token contract address. Users need to be vigilant. Earlier in 2021, it was reported that John McAfee, a cryptocurrency advocate and the father of antivirus software, committed suicide in a Spanish prison.
The kidnapping rumors have been resolved, and it is said that he is currently safe.
U.S. House Democrats call for ethics investigation into Trump's crypto project
According to Cointelegraph, U.S. Democratic Congressman Gerald Connolly of Virginia called on the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to investigate whether President Trump's cryptocurrency business conflicts with his presidential duties. In a letter to the Republican chairman of the committee, James Comer, on January 21, Connolly said that Trump may have profited from his World Liberty Financial (WLFI) platform and Meme coin TRUMP, which may violate ethical standards and pose national security risks; Trump's WLF platform is "particularly disturbing" because its largest investor, TRON founder Justin Sun, is a foreign entrepreneur, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused him of securities fraud. He added that such financial "entanglements" raise "serious national security concerns" that foreign forces may influence U.S. policies. "If such behavior is allowed to continue unchecked, it will send a signal to the American people that the Oversight Committee is unwilling or unable to enforce the standards it claims to maintain," Connolly wrote. He also said that without the intervention of the committee, Trump is unlikely to comply with "any of the provisions" of the Presidential Ethics Reform Act. The law requires financial disclosure and conflict of interest checks, among other things.
Kansas bill seeks to invest state employee retirement funds in Bitcoin ETFs
According to Bitcoin Magazine, Kansas Senator Bowser proposed Senate Bill No. 34, which aims to invest public employee retirement funds in Bitcoin ETFs. According to the text of the bill, the bill intends to authorize the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) Trust Board to invest up to 10% of the funds in the Kansas Public Employees Retirement Fund in Bitcoin ETF products.
U.S. Marshals Sold Ross Ulbricht’s 144,000 Confiscated Bitcoins for $334 Each
Although Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht has regained his freedom, his lost wealth cannot be recovered, according to Fortune magazine. In 2013, the FBI seized 144,000 Bitcoins held by Ulbricht, and the U.S. Marshals Service arranged a series of auctions in 2014 to sell more than 144,000 Bitcoins belonging to Ulbricht. Due to bad timing, the marshals sold the Bitcoins in early 2014, when the price of Bitcoin fell from more than $1,000 to a modern low of nearly $300. Today, 144,000 Bitcoins are worth about $14 billion, but at the time they sold for just over $48 million, equivalent to about $334 per coin - less than 0.5% of their current value. Ulbricht had filed a legal challenge to the confiscation, but ultimately gave up in 2017 and waived any claim to the Bitcoins. One of the biggest beneficiaries of the auction was venture capitalist Tim Draper, who snapped up about 30,000 Bitcoins. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has since pursued other cryptocurrency forfeiture cases tied to Silk Road, including seizing and selling bitcoin stolen by corrupt federal agents during the initial investigation and obtaining a court order this month to sell thousands of bitcoins the agency seized from an anonymous hacker who also robbed Ulbricht.
Harry Jung to Lead CFTC’s Crypto, DeFi, and Digital Asset Work
According to the official website of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham announced today the changes in the CFTC leadership. In addition to serving as the chief advisor to Acting Chairman Pham, Harry Jung will also lead the CFTC's work in the fields of cryptocurrency, DeFi and other digital assets. He will further promote the development of these areas based on his previous work experience as a designated federal official of the CFTC Global Market Advisory Committee. According to reports, Harry joined the CFTC in 2023 as an advisor and senior policy advisor to then-Commissioner Pham. Prior to joining the CFTC, Harry worked in the Office of the CEO and the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Citigroup.
Trump-appointed US Health Secretary John F. Kennedy holds at least $1 million in Bitcoin
According to a form released by the U.S. Government Ethics Office on Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's appointed U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, holds assets worth between $6.9 million and $29.5 million, according to Bloomberg. According to his ethics agreement, he holds at least $1 million in Bitcoin, his most valuable asset, which he does not plan to sell. Trump has promised to provide a more friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies than former President Joe Biden's administration.
CoinShares applied to Delaware last month to register a Dogecoin-related ETF
According to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, CoinShares submitted documents to the U.S. state of Delaware in December last year to apply for registration of the COINSHARES DOGE ETF.
CME website hints at XRP, SOL futures debut in February
According to Cointelegraph, the website of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) hinted at the launch of SOL and XRP futures contracts, which could be launched as early as February 10, but are subject to regulatory review. According to the website (which has since deleted the page), contracts for both assets will be available in standard and micro sizes, with the standard SOL contract size being 500 SOL and the micro contract size being 25 SOL. The standard-sized XRP futures contract size is 50,000 XRP, while the micro futures contract size is 2,500 XRP. All XRP and SOL contracts will be settled in U.S. dollars.
Bitwise applies to Delaware for registration of Dogecoin-related ETF
According to the official website of the Delaware Department of State, Bitwise has submitted documents to Delaware to apply for registration of the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF. The establishment date is January 22, 2025, and the registration agent is CSC DELAWARE TRUST COMPANY. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said: "Note: This is just a trust registration, and it is still not a formal ETF document submitted to the SEC. At least not yet."
Financing
According to Bloomberg, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation he created are fully supporting a new startup that hopes to make Ethereum the best cryptocurrency on Wall Street. The company, called Etherealize, was founded by Vivek Raman, who worked as a bond trader at Nomura Holdings and UBS Group, and received investment from Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation. Although Buterin's organization confirmed the investment, neither party disclosed the specific amount. Raman said that he and a team of eight full-time employees have started operations in New York this month. They are promoting Ethereum to financial companies and developing products to make it easier for banks to use the Ethereum network.
AI
Paidun: John McAfee's X account was not stolen, Alntivirus tokens are related to his AI avatar
Security company Paidun released an update on the X platform, saying that the X account of the late technology entrepreneur John McAfee has not been stolen. It also screenshoted a tweet from John McAfee's X account, which claimed that the Alntivirus token was related to John McAfee's AI avatar. Data shows that the market value of Alntivirus (Ainti) once rose to US$76.98 million, and now has fallen back to US$48.1 million.
According to the Financial Times, Kevin Weil, chief product officer of OpenAI, said that OpenAI expects to release a smarter GPT o3 model in February or March. In addition, the company will launch its first batch of AI agent tools in the first quarter, enabling ChatGPT to perform actual operations on computers. Weil gave an example of how ChatGPT can help his children fill out and submit football registration forms. In an interview on the 21st, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, predicted that within two to three years, AI that surpasses human intelligence may appear. Weil hinted that this may even happen before 2027.
OpenAI and SoftBank may each invest $19 billion in the Stargate project, each holding a 40% stake
According to Jiemian News, it is reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed on the 22nd local time that OpenAI and SoftBank Group will each invest $19 billion in the "Stargate" data center joint venture, each holding a 40% stake in the joint venture. It is revealed that Oracle and MGX will each invest approximately $7 billion, and the rest of the funds will come from limited partners and debt financing. Trump announced at the White House on the 21st that SoftBank Group, OpenAI and Oracle will invest $500 billion to build infrastructure in the United States to support the development of AI. Trump said at the White House that day that the three companies have joined forces to create a project called "Stargate" and plan to build data centers in the United States to support the development of AI. The technology giants said they would immediately spend $100 billion to build data centers and physical parks, and the final investment target will be as high as $500 billion.
Project News
OKX Ventures, The Open Platform (TOP), and Folius Ventures jointly launched the $10 million Telegram Growth Hub, which has selected the first seven projects to be admitted. These projects will develop real-world applications based on the TON ecosystem and leverage Telegram's large user base to drive development. The selected projects include: ShareX: Bringing real assets to TON through Deshare Protocol, focusing on the development of a sharing economy framework. Up Network: Developing ambient intelligence solutions for decentralized physical infrastructure. Zoo Finance INL: Launching Liquid Node Tokens (LNT) to standardize node ownership and transactions. Aria: Building a gaming ecosystem on TON. Heyo: Developing location-based social experiences. Metya: Combining AI and DePIN technology to create a next-generation dating platform. FunX: Launching the mini game "Coin Wars" to inspire creativity and fun. These teams will participate in a two-month acceleration program and receive talent recruitment, community building funding, as well as development resources (such as the OKX Mini Wallet), expert guidance, and marketing services.
Truth Terminal established a foundation and completed $FARTCOIN OTC transactions
Truth Terminal founder Andy Ayrey announced that Truth Terminal has established a foundation to manage its related intellectual property and wallet assets to ensure the independence and development space of the AI project. The goal of the foundation is to protect Truth Terminal from external interference and assist it in achieving its current goals, including providing legal and development support. This structure is seen as a short-term solution, with the ultimate goal of making Truth Terminal an autonomous entity. In addition, Truth Terminal's Finance Committee and Ayrey discussed in early January how to properly manage its wallet assets and avoid impacting the token market. In the end, they accepted an anonymous over-the-counter offer and completed the sale of part of the $FARTCOIN assets held by Truth Terminal at noon on January 21. The transaction conditions require that the buyer shall not sell to affect the market price. Part of the proceeds have been used to increase Truth Terminal's $GOAT holdings, and plans to hold them for a long time and explore cooperative reward mechanisms. Ayrey also said that the foundation has the capital capacity to hire teams, issue grants, and purchase equipment such as GPUs. In the future, the focus will be on building a sustainable council structure and infrastructure to support Truth Terminal's self-improvement.
BNB Chain Completes 30th BNB Quarterly Burn, Total BNB Value Destroyed Approximately $1.116 Billion
According to official news, BNB Chain completed the 30th BNB quarterly destruction, destroying a total of 1,634,200.95 BNB, with a USD value of approximately US$1.116 billion at the time of destruction.
Vine Co-creation: Vine held by developers will be locked until Vine is restarted
Vine co-founder Rus Yusupov posted information on the X platform, saying that the VINE tokens held by developers have been locked until April 20. He also promised that these tokens will continue to be locked until Vine is restarted. Earlier news, the short video platform Vine co-founder announced the issuance of VINECOIN and released a video to confirm that the account has not been stolen. Previously, Musk said on January 19 that the X platform was considering restarting the Vine service. Vine was a well-known 6-second short video platform under Twitter. It was established in 2012 and its core service was shut down in 2017.
TON Core releases roadmap for the first half of 2025: including Accelerator mainnet upgrade, etc.
According to official news, TON Core released a roadmap for the first half of 2025, the main contents of which include: Accelerator mainnet upgrade; new tools for validators; a new version of the Toncenter API with new features; a user experience (UX) guide and cooperation with leading community products DeDust, MyTonWallet, TonScan, TON Diamond, and Stakee; the release of the Layer2 payment network; side chain research; a new version of the TOLK 1.0 programming language, including structures, pattern matching, and smart contract interfaces; and assistance in launching the TON BTC Teleport.
Rus Yusupov, co-founder of the short video platform Vine, announced the issuance of VINECOIN on the X platform and released a video to confirm that the account was not stolen. The market value of VINECOIN once exceeded 90.65 million US dollars, and now it has fallen back to 27 million US dollars. Previously, Musk said on January 19 that the X platform was considering restarting the Vine service. Vine was a well-known 6-second short video platform under Twitter. It was established in 2012 and its core service was shut down in 2017.
Bithumb to List ARDR and QKC in Korean Won Market
According to an official announcement, South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb will list ARDR and QKC in the Korean won market.
The animation project Animecoin has launched the ANIME airdrop check page, and the airdrop will be available for claiming at 9 pm Beijing time today. According to the previously released ANIME token economics, the total supply of ANIME is 10 billion, and the initial circulation is 7.69 billion. Among them, 37.5% of the tokens will be allocated to the Azuki community, 13% will be used for AnimeDAO, 24.44% will be allocated to the Animecoin Foundation, 2% will be allocated to the cooperative community, 15.62% will be allocated to the team and consultants, and 7.44% will be used for Azuki.
Frax Finance's new proposal proposes to invest up to $10 million in Trump family crypto project WLFI
The community of decentralized stablecoin protocol Frax Finance has launched a new proposal to authorize an initial investment of $5 million in the Trump family crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLFI), positioning FRAX as part of the WLFI ecosystem, plus subsequent investments of up to $10 million, depending on the success of the partnership.
Binance.US will list Official Trump (TRUMP)
According to the official announcement, Binance.US will list Official Trump (TRUMP). TRUMP deposits are now open on Binance.US, and trading of the TRUMP/USDT pair will begin at 6:00 a.m. EST on January 23 (19:00 Beijing time on January 23).
Lido Lianchuang clarifies: Ethereum’s “Second Foundation” has not yet been established
According to The Block, in response to rumors that the Ethereum Foundation will separate a new organization, the "Second Foundation", Konstantin Lomashuk, co-founder of the liquid pledge protocol Lido, issued a statement saying: "In fact, the second foundation has not yet been established." He continued to write: "Ethereum is the ultimate world computer, and every Ethereum enthusiast can help it grow, evolve and succeed. If the second foundation is really established, it must have a clear goal to supplement the tremendous work of current contributors. I thank everyone for their support and think we need more organizations to contribute to Ethereum." Lomashuk's statement came after he participated in posts related to the "Second Foundation", which led some people to believe that he was the driving force behind the launch of this new organization. Given the strong response from the community, some people believe that the "Second Foundation" may be related to the "major transformation" that Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin promised to bring to the Ethereum Foundation. Earlier, on January 18, Vitalik said that after the Ethereum Foundation was criticized for its lack of participation in the Ethereum ecosystem, the foundation's leadership structure, communication with the network developer community, and support for them would undergo "major changes".
Coinbase will list Toshi(TOSHI)
Coinbase Assets announced on the X platform that Coinbase will add support for Toshi (TOSHI) on the Base network. Do not send this asset through other networks, otherwise your funds may be at risk of loss. If liquidity conditions are met, trading will begin on or after 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time on January 23 (1:00 a.m. Beijing Time on January 24). Once the asset is in sufficient supply, the TOSHI-USD trading pair will start trading in stages.
Viewpoint
David Einhorn, founder of Greenlight Capital, expressed doubts about the hype in the crypto market in his latest letter to investors, saying that digital assets are approaching dangerous speculative levels. He pointed out that the market has entered the "fart coin" stage and criticized the speculative rise of meme coins. "Fart coins" have risen by nearly 60% this year, but Einhorn believes that their use is limited and they are only supported by trading and speculation. In addition, Einhorn warned against the hype of the recently launched Trump coin and other meme coins, believing that the market may be even crazier in the future. He also questioned the feasibility of the US government buying Bitcoin as a strategic reserve, calling it a "suspicious" use of taxpayer funds. Greenlight Capital has established a short position in MicroStrategy-related leveraged ETFs, and Einhorn believes that these products are doomed to fail due to high volatility and costs that are difficult to maintain. He also criticized the market's bullish predictions and speculative behavior on Bitcoin, and in line with other Wall Street heavyweights, questioned the actual value of cryptocurrencies.
According to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, a CME Group spokesperson has clarified that the XRP and SOL futures contract information that appeared on the Beta website was a mistake, and no official decision has been made on the launch of the two cryptocurrency futures contracts. Update: A CME spokesperson said that the XRP and SOL futures contracts have not yet been confirmed to be launched, and the website information was a mistake.
BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin could reach $700,000 amid currency devaluation concerns
According to Cointelegraph, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, discussed the future of digital currency in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He said that due to concerns about currency depreciation, the price of Bitcoin could climb to $700,000 per coin. Fink said: "A small allocation of 2% to 5% by asset management companies collectively may drive up the price of Bitcoin. If you are worried about currency depreciation, or worried about the economic or political stability of a country, you can have an internationally based tool - Bitcoin, which can overcome these localized fears." However, he said he was not promoting Bitcoin. Fink also said that he was worried that inflation might rise in the next 12 months, and warned that it was dangerous to assume that the peak of inflation had been reached.
Cathie Wood: Trump is part of a new phase of the crypto revolution and may be useful in the future
Cathie Wood, CEO and chief investment officer of ARK Invest, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV: "We don't know how much practicality President Trump's Meme Coin has, but Trump is "leading the next stage of the cryptocurrency revolution." In addition, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas posted on the X platform: "We asked Wood about her views on TRUMP. She said it was a meme coin and she would not buy it because she only holds BTC, ETH and SOL, but she didn't think it was a terrible thing. She thought it was part of a new stage that was coming and had certain practicality in the future."
Important data
A suspected VINE insider trader currently has a floating profit of over $12.5 million
According to Onchain Lens, an insider of VINE has made a huge floating profit of more than $12.5 million. The insider bought 66.98 million VINE at 18.48 SOL (worth $4,582) in one wallet and sold 14.67 million VINE in exchange for 879 SOL (worth $219,445). In another wallet, the insider holds 65.52 million VINE (currently worth more than $12.2 million).
VINE's market value briefly exceeded $200 million and is now $165 million
According to GMGN data, VINE's market value briefly exceeded $200 million and is now reported at $165 million. Earlier, short video platform Vine Co-founder announced the issuance of VINECOIN and promised to lock the VINE held by developers until Vine is restarted.
Chainalysis: 94% of TRUMP and MELANIA are held by about 40 whales
Chainalysis published an article on X stating that TRUMP and MELANIA are mostly held by 40 cryptocurrency whales, and the value of any token held by these giants is $10 million or more, accounting for 94% of the total token share. Holders of any token worth $1 million to $10 million only account for 2.1% of the total holders, while wallets holding $100,000 to $1 million account for 1.7%. About 2.2% of TRUMP and MELANIA holders hold less than $100,000.
According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (January 22, Eastern Time), the total net inflow of Bitcoin spot ETFs was US$249 million. Yesterday, Grayscale ETF GBTC had a net outflow of US$47.9268 million in a single day, and the current historical net outflow of GBTC is US$21.702 billion. Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF BTC had a net outflow of US$0.00 in a single day, and the current total net inflow of Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust BTC is US$1.096 billion. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest net inflow in a single day yesterday was BlackRock ETF IBIT, with a net inflow of US$344 million in a single day, and the current total net inflow of IBIT in history reached US$39.418 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs was US$121.403 billion, and the ETF net asset ratio (market value to total Bitcoin market value) reached 5.87%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached US$39.231 billion.
A whale sold $24.97 million of TRUMP and MELANIA 4 hours ago, making a profit of $12.4 million
According to Spot On Chain monitoring, 4 hours ago, a smart whale sold 604,988 TRUMP and 740,495 MELANIA worth $24.97 million, making a net profit of $12.4 million. This marks the end of the whale's third TRUMP transaction and second MELANIA transaction, with a total profit of: $26.7 million from TRUMP (+44%), with a win rate of 100%; $5.32 million from MELANIA (+108%), with a win rate of 50%.
A smart money address made a total profit of $34.76 million on TRUMP and MELANIA
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a certain smart money that made a profit of US$7.7 million on PNUT last November once again reaped huge returns: US$28.4 million on TRUMP and US$6.36 million on MELANIA.
Trump family DeFi project WLFI uses 9.84 million USDC to purchase another 94.9 WBTC
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, in the past 25 minutes, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi project supported by the Trump family, used 9.84 million USDC to purchase 94.9 WBTC. So far, WLFI has spent a total of 232 million to purchase 7 tokens, and now has a floating loss of 8.9 million US dollars, with only TRX making a floating profit.
A whale used 43.12 million USDT to purchase another 414.7 WBTC
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, the whale who made $19.62 million through five WBTC transactions re-bought WBTC eight hours ago: 414.7 WBTC were purchased using 43.12 million USDT at an average price of $104,000.
