U.S. regulators are conducting token pilots using stablecoins as collateral
According to CoinDesk, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chair Caroline Pham is pushing for a stablecoin-backed tokenization pilot program, and an upcoming summit will invite executives from Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, Crypto.com and other digital asset companies. The specific date and further details of this digital asset CEO forum have not yet been determined. Last November, Pham proposed the idea of a tokenization regulatory sandbox through her advisory committee - the Global Markets Advisory Committee, but the previous leadership did not adopt it. In a statement on Friday, Acting Chair Pham said, "I am pleased to announce this pioneering initiative for the U.S. digital asset market. I look forward to working with market participants to fulfill the Trump administration's commitment to ensuring America leads the world in economic opportunities." According to the agency, this plan, based on Pham's "responsible innovation" concept, will promote the use of non-cash collateral through distributed ledger technology.
A Florida state senator introduces a Bitcoin investment bill
According to The Block, Florida Republican state senator Joe Gruters submitted a bill on Friday proposing to allow the state to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. According to the submitted documents, the senator proposes that the Florida Chief Financial Officer can use public funds "to invest in Bitcoin and other digital assets for specific purposes." Gruters' bill outlines that the Florida Chief Financial Officer's "investment in Bitcoin shall not exceed 10% of the total assets of any account." Some of the public fund sources mentioned in the bill that can be used to invest in Bitcoin include the General Revenue Fund, Budget Stabilization Fund, Trust Funds, and "all agency funds of each state agency and judicial branch." The bill also proposes "authorizing the State Board of Administration Trustees to invest and reinvest available funds of the System Trust Fund in Bitcoin... and providing that public funds invested in Bitcoin are not subject to certain security requirements."
Lawmakers in Kentucky and Maryland propose "Bitcoin reserve" bills
According to CoinDesk, as Utah became the first state to pass legislation allowing public funds to be invested in crypto assets, two more states joined the ranks this week: Kentucky and Maryland. While these state initiatives are broadly related to the so-called "Bitcoin strategic reserve" plan led by Republicans at the federal level, each state has put forward its own measures, with varying approaches to how state funds will be invested in digital assets. This week, Maryland Democratic Delegate Caylin Young introduced a new bill to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve, similar to what U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has envisioned. In Maryland, the reserve will be funded through enforcement revenue from gambling violations. Kentucky's legislation was also introduced this week, with two bills currently allowing the state's retirement funds to invest in digital asset ETFs. These bills will also set barriers for the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
The U.S. SEC delays its decision on BlackRock's Ethereum ETF options trading until April 9
According to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday delayed its decision on whether to approve BlackRock to list and trade options on its spot Ethereum ETF. According to the filing, the SEC said it will decide by April 9, 2025 whether to approve or disapprove the proposed rule change to allow BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust to trade options. The SEC stated, "The Commission finds that it is appropriate to designate a longer period within which to issue the order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change in order to have sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised thereby."
According to Caixin, after being investigated for nearly two years, Hao Gang, the former deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the first instance. Caixin learned from multiple channels that Hao Gang was involved in Bitcoin money laundering; in addition, he also helped the executive of a leading Bitcoin mining company resolve border control issues, with bribes reaching tens of millions of yuan.
U.S. non-farm payrolls increased by 143,000 in December, unemployment rate at 4%
U.S. non-farm payrolls increased by 143,000 in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared to an expected 170,000 and a prior 256,000. The U.S. unemployment rate in January was 4%, compared to an expected 4.1% and a prior 4.1%.
Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev temporarily released by Dutch court
According to Bitcoin.com, after spending nine months in a Dutch prison, Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was temporarily released on Friday, but he still faces a 64-month (5 years and 4 months) sentence. In a recent positive turn of events, the court has released Alexey Pertsev and placed him under house arrest and electronic monitoring until his trial date. Pertsev posted on the X platform, saying: "Freedom is priceless, and my house arrest was only made possible through the efforts of my lawyers, paid for by your donations. My struggle is not over, and I still need everyone's help to achieve the final victory and confidence."
Trump: DeepSeek is a very positive development, not a bad thing
According to Jinrong.com, when expressing his views on DeepSeek and whether it poses a national security threat, U.S. President Trump said that this is an emerging technology, and if developed correctly, we will benefit from it, as the costs of the artificial intelligence involved will be much lower than people initially imagined, which is a good thing. Trump emphasized that it should be seen as a very positive development, not a bad thing.
Alibaba denies investment in DeepSeek rumors
Alibaba has denied the rumors of investing in DeepSeek. A relevant person said that as fellow companies from Hangzhou, China, we applaud DeepSeek, but the information circulating in the outside world about Alibaba investing in DeepSeek is false.
Meta to conduct company-wide layoffs starting next week
According to Jinshi News, an internal memo shows that Meta Platforms (META.O), the owner of Facebook, plans to conduct expected layoffs across the company next week, while accelerating the hiring of machine learning engineers. The memo shows that layoff notices in most countries (including the US) will be issued starting at 5am local time on Monday. Employees in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands will not be affected by the layoffs "due to local regulations", while employees in more than a dozen other countries in Europe, Asia and Africa will receive notices between February 11 and February 18.
Solayer has opened the LAYER token airdrop eligibility query
The Solayer Foundation announced on the X platform that the LAYER token airdrop eligibility query is now open. Previously, yesterday's news, Solayer announced the LAYER token economics: a maximum supply of 1 billion, with 51.23% allocated to the community and ecosystem.
According to The Block, American rapper Kanye West stated on social media that he hopes to have a dialogue with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on "crypto-related matters". Previously, he revealed that he had received a $2 million proposal, asking him to issue a token, but he rejected the proposal and stopped cooperating with the proposer. According to the chat screenshots posted by Kanye, the collaboration required Kanye to promote a RUG pool MEME coin, with a prepayment of $750,000, and after 8 hours of posting, Kanye could announce that his account was hacked, and after 16 hours, an additional $1.25 million would be paid, and the mastermind behind it claimed that the collaboration could make tens of millions of dollars in profits.
According to CoinDesk, DCG founder and CEO Barry Silbert is heavily betting on decentralized artificial intelligence (deAI), calling it "the next big era of crypto", with potential even greater than Bitcoin. In a letter to shareholders of the cryptocurrency group Digital Currency Group (DCG) he leads, Silbert expressed strong optimism about deAI: this is the crypto industry's effort to integrate AI innovation with blockchain technology. He believes that this technological integration could bring greater returns to humanity than the closed systems developed by OpenAI and other giants. Silbert wrote in the Q4 letter: "We are moving from digital ownership of assets to intelligent decentralized ownership, and the availability of massive decentralized computing resources." He said the company has invested $105 million in more than a dozen deAI projects and looks forward to increasing investment in 2025. He specifically mentioned DCG's investment in Bittensor, a crypto network focused on machine learning and AI applications, writing that Bittensor's TAO token has many similarities to Bitcoin. DCG plans to invest heavily to support the Bittensor ecosystem. Silbert pointed out that in November last year, DCG set up a company called Yuma to incubate Bittensor's infrastructure projects. In addition, Grayscale, another DCG subsidiary, now offers investment products related to TAO.
Layer3 gaming network B3 will launch B3 token and airdrop on February 10
According to Decrypt, the Layer3 gaming network B3 built on Base announced on Friday that it will launch its recently announced B3 token on February 10, accompanied by an airdrop event. A snapshot of network activity will be taken before the planned "S1 airdrop", and there will be more airdrops, tournaments and gamification ways to earn B3 in the future. According to a post on the X platform, B3 stakers will receive certain benefits, including receiving tokens for a dedicated gaming chain, early access to new games on the network, and other potential rewards. The post also briefly introduces the token economics: 34.2% of the token supply will be allocated to the community and ecosystem, 23.3% to the team and advisors, 22.5% to support the Player1 Foundation for the B3 ecosystem, and 20% reserved for investors. Tokens for investors, team members and advisors will have a one-year lock-up period, and then be unlocked monthly over the following three years. The total supply of B3 has not yet been announced.
Telegram game TapSwap will launch its TAPS token on the BNB Chain, not the TON network
According to Decrypt, the Telegram-based click-to-earn game TapSwap has announced that its upcoming TAPS token will be launched on the BNB Chain, rather than the originally planned TON network. The game originally planned to complete the token airdrop in late January, but recently stated that, based on the advice of an unnamed "tier-one" decentralized exchange, the token launch has been delayed in the hope of finding better market conditions. However, after completing the first season of the game on February 6, the project decided to proceed with the token launch on the BNB Chain, which is expected to take place on February 14 according to a post on X earlier this week. The project stated: "Launching the TAPS token on the BNB Chain will enhance speed, security and accessibility, making TapSwap more attractive to players and investors." Users will earn the upcoming token based on their overall participation in the TapSwap click-to-earn game. However, the game plans to transition from the click-to-earn model in the future and integrate skill-based gameplay. In early January, Telegram and TON announced an exclusive agreement requiring all crypto-integrated mini-games or applications to exclusively use TON. However, although TapSwap had previously promoted its collaboration with TON, it did not mention Telegram or any migration plans in its token launch announcement.
Coinbase adds MORPHO, PENGU, POPCAT to the listing roadmap
According to the Coinbase Assets announcement, Morpho Token (MORPHO), Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) and Popcat (SOL) (POPCAT) have been added to the listing roadmap today.
Vitalik Buterin (Vitalik) posted on social media that if Apple publicly commits to withdrawing from the UK market in the event that it cannot avoid compromising encryption, he will have greater respect for Apple. He emphasized that if Apple takes this action, he will additionally purchase and use an Apple device (currently only owns AirPods). Previous reports have stated that the UK government is demanding that Apple create a backdoor to allow security agencies to access encrypted iCloud backups of global users, and prohibit Apple from notifying users of compromised data security. At the same time, the US NSA, FBI and others have advised strengthening end-to-end encryption to protect network traffic, but the UK has not joined this initiative.
Story Protocol announces token economic model, with 58.4% allocated to the community
The Layer 1 network Story Protocol, supported by a16z, has announced the economic model of its native token IP to support the upcoming mainnet launch. The initial supply of the IP token is 1 billion, of which 58.4% will be allocated to the community (including initial incentives, ecosystem and foundation), ensuring broad participation and decentralized ownership. 21.6% is allocated to early investors, and 20% to core contributors. In addition, the initial unlocked supply is set at 25%. The official stated that the staking mechanism will follow the "fair start principle", without providing additional rewards to the foundation or early contributors, and all community members can synchronously obtain staking rewards. Story Protocol is developed by PIP Labs, and completed an $80 million Series B round led by a16z last August, with participation from Polychain Capital, Stability AI director Scott Trowbridge, K11 founder Adrian Cheng and others.
BlackRock increases its stake in Strategy to 5%, STRK up 5% pre-market
According to CoinDesk, BlackRock (BLK) has disclosed in its latest 13G filing that its stake in Strategy (MSTR) has increased to 5%, or about 11.2 million shares, up 0.91% from 4.09% as of September 30, 2024. 13G filings are typically used to disclose passive investments, meaning the investor has no intention of influencing or controlling the company. Meanwhile, Strategy's perpetual preferred shares (STRK) have been listed on Nasdaq, with the stock rising 2% on its first day of trading and trading volume exceeding 650,000 shares, and rising another 5% in pre-market trading.
CNBC: SoftBank is set to invest $40 billion in OpenAI, valuing it at $260 billion
According to CNBC, SoftBank is currently set to invest $40 billion in OpenAI, valuing it at $260 billion.
Later, the news SoftBank may replace Microsoft as OpenAI's largest investor.
Sources say: Ilya Sutskever, the co-founder of OpenAI, will see his new artificial intelligence startup company valued at over $20 billion in a new round of financing. Last June, it was reported that Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, had founded a new AI company called SSI.
According to PRNewswire, experience-based rewards technology company Superlogic announced the completion of a $13.7 million Series A financing round, led by Powerledger, with investors including Sangha Capital, 10SQ, Nima Capital, Actai Unicorn Fund, Hyla Liquid Venture Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, and others. In addition, blockchain and corporate funds such as Amex Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Mirabaud Lifestyle Impact and Innovation, and Recharge Capital also participated in the investment. This round of financing has brought Superlogic's total equity financing to over $21 million, which will accelerate its provision of white-label experience technology for global brands. Superlogic uses AI-driven technology to provide personalized reward experiences for customers, and helps brands improve user loyalty through API integration or white-label platforms. Powerledger Executive Chairman Dr. Jemma Green has joined the board of directors and plans to drive Superlogic's business expansion in sustainability.
According to the official announcement of Prodigy.Fi, the decentralized yield and on-chain dual investment trading platform Prodigy.Fi has announced the completion of a $5 million seed round financing, led by Quantstamp and Republic, with participation from Arbelosxyz, PANONY Group, RSK Capital, and Samara Alpha. This round of financing will be used to promote the development of its DeFi yield mining and trading products on the Berachain. In addition, Prodigy.Fi has also received RFB funding from the Berachain Foundation and plans to allocate 10%-15% of BERA to testnet users as rewards.
Riot Platforms grows against the trend, with Bitcoin production reaching 527 in January
According to CoinDesk, Riot Platforms (RIOT) mined 527 Bitcoins (BTC) in January, the highest monthly production since December 2023, up 2% month-on-month. In contrast, most major miners saw a decline in production in January, such as MARA Holdings (750 BTC, down 13%), Cleanspark (626 BTC, down 6%), Core Scientific (down 13%), and Hut 8 (down 31%). Miners are generally affected by the increase in Bitcoin mining difficulty, which is expected to reach a new high of over 108.11T on February 9. Despite the increasing challenges, Riot CEO Jason Les said the company has achieved production growth for two consecutive months. Since the beginning of the year, Cipher Mining's stock price has risen 27%, and RIOT, IREN, and CLSK have also recorded double-digit gains, while Bitdeer (BTDR) has fallen 25%.
According to the announcement from Uniswap Labs, the monthly trading volume of the Uniswap protocol on the Base chain has reached a new high, with a total trading volume of $20.81 billion in January 2025.
A whale has withdrawn 1.7 million UNI, worth about $15.54 million, from Binance in 4 days
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a whale is significantly increasing its holdings of Uniswap (UNI). Over the past 4 days, the address has withdrawn a total of 1.7 million UNI from Binance, worth about $15.54 million.
Grayscale addresses show activity: Over $360 million in BTC transferred in large amounts
On-chain data shows that multiple Grayscale addresses have just seen large-scale Bitcoin (BTC) transfers, with a total amount exceeding $360 million, involving 4,457 BTC. The largest single transfer was 694.019 BTC (about $67.96 million), and other large transactions included 692.684 BTC ($67.83 million), 633.691 BTC ($62.05 million), 557.457 BTC ($54.59 million), and 549.336 BTC ($53.79 million). All funds have been transferred to multiple new addresses, and the specific purpose is not yet clear.
