Today's news tips:
Trump signs executive order to establish sovereign wealth fund within 12 months
Ethereum raises gas limit for first time since switching to proof-of-stake
Tron and Movement both deny conducting "token swap" transactions with the WLFI project
About 200,000 Crypto Wallets Suffer Losses on Exchanges Due to “TRUMP” Coin
Trump's second son Eric Trump: Now is the best time to increase ETH holdings
Web3 game Fableborne completes $12.4 million in new round of financing, led by Delphi Ventures
Policy & Regulation
Trump signs executive order to establish sovereign wealth fund within 12 months
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday afternoon directing the Treasury and Commerce departments to create a sovereign wealth fund, CoinDesk reported. While Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has expressed at least a cautious interest in cryptocurrencies, Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick has been an active supporter of the space. Lutnick, whose bond trading giant Cantor Fitzgerald is the custodian of a large number of government bonds for stablecoin giant Tether, has spoken about his own large personal investment in Bitcoin. Bessent, who appeared in the Oval Office of the White House with Trump on Monday, said he expects the sovereign wealth fund to be created within the next 12 months. While Bitcoin was reportedly not mentioned at the signing ceremony, a sovereign wealth fund could be a way for governments to buy and hold cryptocurrencies.
According to Jinshi, the State Council Tariff Commission issued an announcement: With the approval of the State Council, additional tariffs will be imposed on some imported goods originating from the United States from February 10, 2025. A 15% tariff will be imposed on coal and liquefied natural gas, and a 10% tariff will be imposed on crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement cars, and pickup trucks.
According to market news, David Sacks, the artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency "czar" appointed by US President Trump, plans to hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time on February 4 to outline the U.S. government's plans for leadership in the digital asset field.
Sources: Republican-led SEC committee steps up oversight of agency investigations
Lawyers at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have been told they need approval from politically appointed leadership before formally launching an investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. This significant change in procedure could slow down the progress of investigations. The change was implemented under the new leadership of the SEC after President Trump took office. Usually, five commissioners, including the chairman, oversee the independent agency. Currently, the commission has three members - two Republicans and one Democrat. The commissioners are appointed by the president. In recent days, some law enforcement staff have been told that they need the approval of the commission to issue all formal investigative warrants, which are necessary to issue subpoenas to obtain testimony or documents. Previously, such power had been delegated to lower-level staff. The commission has the power to refuse - but it does not always exercise it. Reuters could not determine whether the commission has voted to formally revoke the delegation of power or who ordered the change.
Trump: Agrees with Mexican President to immediately suspend expected tariffs for one month
According to market sources, Trump said he had reached an agreement with the Mexican president to immediately suspend the expected tariffs for one month. In addition, Mexican President Sheinbaum revealed that he proposed to Trump to permanently suspend tariffs, (but) both sides agreed to postpone it for one month. Trump also said that negotiations led by US Secretary of State Rubio, Treasury Secretary Bessant, Commerce Secretary Lutnick and Mexican officials will be held, and he looks forward to participating in these negotiations with Sheinbaum and striving to reach an agreement between the two countries.
Crypto.com, Kalshi’s Super Bowl contracts under investigation by US regulators
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is asking Crypto.com and Kalshi Inc. to explain how their recently launched Super Bowl event contracts comply with derivatives regulations, according to Bloomberg. Under regulations, the agency has the power to ask companies that "self-certify" their financial products to provide additional information, including proof that the products are not vulnerable to manipulation and meet other regulatory requirements. It can evaluate these responses and decide whether to take any enforcement action or begin drafting new rules. "We are continuing to review these contracts in accordance with our regulations," a CFTC spokesperson said in an email. The agency announced last week that it would hold a public roundtable on emerging issues in the derivatives market, including event contracts. The regulator voted in January to conduct a special regulatory review of Crypto.com's sports contracts to determine whether they fall into the category of gambling, one of the categories that receive additional scrutiny on whether certain contracts are in the public interest. Crypto.com recently withdrew two applications under review and self-certified a new contract related to spectator sports and related industries, according to public agency documents. It is unclear whether the agency will continue its original review of the initial sports contracts. Kalshi’s contracts, which launched three days after President Donald Trump took office, have not received similar scrutiny. The agency’s new investigation comes as Robinhood Markets Inc. announced Monday it was launching its own sports trading through Kalshi’s exchange for its Robinhood Derivatives customers.
Musk first outlines DOGE blueprint and tries to boost market confidence in US debt
According to Jinshi, Musk, who controls the U.S. government's efficiency department "DOGE", recently outlined a blueprint for drastically cutting U.S. spending and regulations, including abolishing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Musk said in the X Spaces audio conference that U.S. regulations need to be thoroughly cleaned up. As Trump's largest funder, he revealed that his team is pushing to close the foreign aid agency established by U.S. Congress, which will be the largest cut plan to date. In addition, Musk also announced that he will have a dialogue with JPMorgan Chase CEO Dimon this week to try to convince the bond market that his "DOGE" cost-cutting plan can enhance market confidence in U.S. debt. Any sign of drastic cuts in spending and improvements in the fiscal deficit is good news for investors betting on a downward trend in U.S. bond yields. This nearly one-hour audio discussion was the first time Musk talked about the "DOGE plan" in detail after Trump's victory. Republican Senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee and former "DOGE" co-director Vivek Ramaswamy participated in this free discussion. Analysts believe that Musk’s intensive actions in the first two weeks of Trump’s administration indicate that the authority of “DOGE” has far exceeded the scope of the executive order that created the department - the order only requires it to "improve government efficiency and productivity by upgrading federal technology software."
AI
According to Jinshi, SoftBank Group announced a partnership with OpenAI to jointly develop and sell advanced enterprise artificial intelligence called "Cristal intelligence". SoftBank will spend $3 billion a year to deploy OpenAI's solutions in its group companies. SoftBank and OpenAI also announced the establishment of a new joint venture called "SB OpenAI Japan", which will specifically promote OpenAI's enterprise technology to large Japanese companies, with each party holding a 50% stake. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said he believes that general artificial intelligence (AGI) will become a reality in less than 10 years and believes that "AGI can be realized first in large enterprise businesses", adding that to achieve this goal, "quite a huge amount of money is required", and these funds "are currently only available to large companies."
OpenAI launches deep research feature that generates analyst-level reports in 5 to 30 minutes
According to the Beijing News, after being impacted by DeepSeek, the frequency of OpenAI's new product features has significantly accelerated. Following the release of the official version of the o3-mini model three days ago and the addition of a free "reasoning" button in ChatGPT, OpenAI released a new feature of ChatGPT called "Deep Research" on the morning of February 3rd, Beijing time. This feature is designed to generate analyst-level reports after 5 to 30 minutes of networking and deep thinking. Currently, Pro users can use this feature. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that this is a service like "providing experts on demand" that can complete tasks that previously took hours or days to complete. However, OpenAI said that the feature sometimes produces hallucinations or makes incorrect inferences in answers, but the probability of errors is significantly lower than other existing models under ChatGPT.
Project News
Sol Strategies, a Canadian listed company, announced that between January 19, 2025 and January 31, 2025, the company completed the purchase of an additional 40,300 SOLs at a price of approximately 14,337,332 Canadian dollars (9,935,329 U.S. dollars), with an average price of 355.77 Canadian dollars (246.53 U.S. dollars) per SOL, including fees and expenses. The company also completed a private placement of $2.5 million in the second phase of convertible bonds, the total proceeds of which were satisfied by paying 6,564.47 SOLs, with an average price of 380.84 Canadian dollars (265.65 U.S. dollars) per SOL. As of January 31, 2025, Sol Strategies and its subsidiaries held a total of approximately 189,968 SOLs with a total purchase price of approximately C$48.7 million, an average purchase price of approximately C$256.21 per SOL, including fees and expenses, valued at C$63.7 million based on the closing price of SOL on January 31, 2025.
In response to questions about the investment share and token unlocking of Hooked Protocol (HOOK), Dovey Wan, founding partner of Primitive Ventures, responded in the community Space: "When Primitive Ventures invested in Hooked Protocol, the valuation was $30 million. The token unlocking cycle is the same as other VCs, and it will start unlocking at the end of 2023." Dovey added that due to the sensitive relationship with Jason, the founder of Hooked Protocol (the two were once lovers), he deliberately did not participate too much in the project, and even after Binance officially announced the launch of HOOK, he was surprised "why the product was launched so early." In response to the rumored "Binance Labs bestie" incident in the market, he responded that he was an investor in the market, while He Yi was the founder and had multiple children, which led to a long "psychological distance" between him and He Yi, and it was difficult to say that the two were in a "bestie" relationship.
Ethereum raises gas limit for first time since switching to proof-of-stake
According to The Block, Ethereum has reached the consensus needed to increase the network's gas limit, with 50% of validators supporting the change to help improve the network's scalability. The gas limit is a key parameter that determines the network's transaction capacity. Previously, the gas limit was capped at 30 million, and now it has exceeded 31 million. The gas limit adjustment requires approval from more than half of the validators to take effect, and this adjustment was completed yesterday. Once more than 50% of validators express support, the block gas limit will be automatically adjusted without a hard fork. This is the first time Ethereum has implemented such a change under the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. The last adjustment occurred in 2021, when the gas limit doubled from 15 million units to 30 million units. According to gaslimit.pics, the average gas limit in the past 24 hours was 31.5 million units, and it is expected to be adjusted to a maximum of 36 million units. Although the Dencun upgrade and proto-dank sharding technology have recently improved scalability, increasing the gas limit is still necessary as the demand and complexity of Ethereum's decentralized applications increase.
Binance will remove QI/BTC, TLM/BTC, VITE/BTC spot trading pairs
Binance issued an announcement stating that based on the recent review results, Binance will remove the following spot trading pairs and stop trading at 11:00 (Eastern Time) on February 6, 2025: QI/BTC, TLM/BTC, VITE/BTC.
Tron and Movement both deny conducting "token swap" transactions with the WLFI project
According to CoinDesk, in response to the Trump crypto project WLFI inviting blockchain projects to participate in the "token swap" transaction, a Tron spokesperson said that it did not participate in the token exchange agreement. Movement Labs co-founder Rushi Manche also told the media earlier that no tokens were sent to anyone, including WLFI - "There was no transaction, no backdoor transaction. This was purely a market purchase."
Blockchain game studio Midnight Society closes due to financial difficulties
According to NFT Plazas, Midnight Society, the production studio behind the blockchain game Deaddrop, has confirmed its closure after facing financial difficulties and internal turmoil. Just a few days before the announcement of the closure of the company, employees received a two-day notice of the company's closure. Previously, co-founder Dr. Disrespect left in mid-2024 due to allegations of misconduct. Although the studio initially expressed confidence in continuing to develop and release Deaddrop in 2025, insufficient funds and layoffs ultimately led to its closure.
Crypto exchange XeggeX posted a message on the X platform yesterday afternoon: "The CEO account was hacked, the TG account and the xeggex community group were lost, and we still don't know the details. In addition, what is important at this moment is that we successfully locked the wallet to ensure the safety of funds. Since we have disconnected the database from the network, the login problem still exists, and we will check everything in the background. The next news will be more detailed after we have more extensive information." However, 2 hours before XeggeX issued the above announcement, the crypto media BlockTempo analyzed: "XeggeX is suspected of exploding, and many users left messages under the official pinned post reflecting that they could not log in to the platform. In addition, a query on the official website found that all tokens have been removed from the shelves, exacerbating market concerns. The market suffered a bloodbath yesterday, which may cause a large number of users to rush in to withdraw money, triggering a run crisis. If the platform cannot resume normal operations, it is very likely to run away." According to PANews, the XeggeX website currently only shows "We are coming back soon" and has not yet resumed normal operations.
The Berachain Foundation released its network white paper. According to the white paper, Berachain is a new EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain that aims to align the value of the network with the value of applications built on it through the Proof of Liquidity (PoL) mechanism. Through its core innovation of Proof of Liquidity (PoL), the incentive mechanism of the traditional Proof of Stake (PoS) is changed, and the rewards of validators are linked to the application needs on the network. The economic model adopts a dual-token model, BERA is used for staking and trading, and BGT is used for governance and rewards (non-transferable). The issuance of BGT is closely related to the staking of BERA, and BERA can be exchanged by destroying BGT. In addition, the PoL mechanism controls inflation by adjusting the validator's Boost to ensure the security and decentralization of the network.
Trump's second son Eric Trump: Now is the best time to increase ETH holdings
Trump's second son Eric Trump posted on the X platform: "I think now is the best time to add ETH (In my opinion, it'sa great time to add ETH.)"
Coinbase Adds Ether.fi (ETHFI) and Bittensor (TAO) to its Listing Roadmap
According to the official announcement, Coinbase has included Ether.fi (ETHFI) and Bittensor (TAO) in its coin listing roadmap.
"Chain detective" ZachXBT posted on the X platform that in the past few months, many Coinbase users have complained on X that their accounts have been suddenly restricted. This is the result of the aggressive risk model and Coinbase's failure to prevent its users from losing more than 300 million US dollars each year to social engineering scams. ZachXBT made some suggestions, including: 1. For advanced users who have added an authenticator application or security key and have passed full KYC verification, the phone number should be optional; 2. Add beginner/elderly user account types that do not allow withdrawals; 3. Improve community services (blog posts on recovering user funds, 24/7 IR, marking stolen addresses, blocking phishing domain names, etc.); 4. Consider taking legal action on behalf of users against TLOxp/TransUnion for negligence, as this is the main tool used by cybercriminals to harm users; 5. Take legal action against fraud perpetrators in the United States to serve as a warning to others.
MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor announced on the X platform that he did not sell any Class A common stock or purchase any Bitcoin last week. As of February 2, 2025, MicroStrategy held 471,107 Bitcoins at a purchase price of approximately US$30.4 billion, with an average purchase price of approximately US$64,511 per Bitcoin.
TON Foundation’s Steve Yun launches $100 million fund TVM Ventures
According to TheBlock, Steve Yun of the TON Foundation launched TVM Ventures, a $100 million fund focused on TON-based startups, which is reportedly funded by Yun himself and a Toncoin miner, but declined to disclose the miner's identity or specific contributions. Yun resigned as chairman of the TON Foundation last month, but remains a member of the board of directors. He founded TVM Ventures in November 2024 and is responsible for launching operations.
Ben Zhou, CEO of Bybit, wrote on X platform, “I am afraid that the real total liquidation amount in the cryptocurrency market today is far more than $2 billion. According to my estimate, it should be at least between $8 billion and $10 billion. The 24-hour liquidation amount of Bybit alone reached $2.1 billion. Coinglass records the 24-hour liquidation amount of Bybit at about $333 million, but this is not all liquidation data. We have an API limit on pushing data per second. From what I have observed, other exchanges have similar practices to limit the push of liquidation data. In the future, Bybit will start to push all liquidation data like other data. We believe that transparency is very important.”
Bitdeer holds 50 more BTC today, and currently holds a total of 787 BTC
Bitdeer, a listed crypto mining company, announced on the X platform that it has increased its holdings by 50 BTC today, worth approximately US$4.74 million. As of 8 pm on February 3, 2025 (Singapore time), the total Bitcoin holdings are 787 BTC.
According to TheBlock, Aave founder Stani Kulechov said: "Tariffs will raise funds for the United States and increase domestic production. They will also allow other countries to raise funds and increase their domestic production, so that every country will participate in the competition for domestic production. This is not a recession, but a reorganization of the entire global economy. For those who see the uncertainty of the stock market crash during the transition, cryptocurrencies will serve as a hedge, and for those who want to reduce the uncertainty of the bond market crash, DeFi income will also serve as a hedge."
According to TheBlock, analysts at brokerage firm Bernstein said in a report to clients: "If tariffs mean a stronger dollar, rising inflation, and a weakening of the prospect of interest rate cuts in the short term, then this means a decline in global liquidity for risky assets. In the longer term, as governments assume higher debts and higher deficits, leading to further currency depreciation, Bitcoin has relative value relative to the dollar, which is evident in Bitcoin's long-term compound history. But in the short term, Bitcoin is correlated with risky assets. Therefore, the sell-off in cryptocurrencies is not surprising." Bernstein analysts believe that in the long run, the Trump administration believes that cryptocurrencies are strategically important to government governance and national finances, and aim to control inflation by cutting deficits, cost-cutting departments of the Government Efficiency Department led by Elon Musk, and increasing energy production. While foreign governments may retaliate against tariffs by selling U.S. Treasuries, Bernstein expects sovereign states to hoard gold and Bitcoin as economic buffers, the United States will lead the shift to supporting cryptocurrencies, and more countries may follow suit.
Bitwise executive: Tariffs may only be a temporary tool, Bitcoin will still rise in the long run
According to Forbes, Jeff Park, head of strategy at Bitwise Alpha, said that tariffs may only be a temporary tool, but the long-term conclusion is that Bitcoin will not only go higher, but also faster, because both sides of the trade imbalance equation want Bitcoin, so the end result is the same: higher prices and faster speeds. Petr Kozyakov, CEO of crypto payment platform Mercuryo, pointed out that after Trump announced the tariffs on Friday, a wave of FUD swept the cryptocurrency market, and the prospect of long-term interest rate hikes shook all markets around the world. Although Bitcoin has fallen below the $100,000 mark, the king of cryptocurrencies has once again proved itself to be unique, in stark contrast to the altcoins that have fallen across the board. Bitcoin plunged to just over $91,000 overnight, with a minimum drop of nearly 10%, and then rebounded to around $95,000. Other major cryptocurrencies fell more, with Ethereum falling by about 20%, and Solana seemed to perform better relative to Ethereum, falling only 6%.
Market News: Coinbase Obtains UK Operating License
According to market news, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has obtained the relevant license to operate in the UK.
Binance Pay Partners with xMoney to Expand Crypto Accessibility in Europe
According to the official announcement, Binance Pay has reached a cooperation with European Web3 payment provider XMoney. The partnership simplifies payment services for luxury goods, travel, games and even public services, allowing more than 20,000 businesses in XMoney's merchant network to directly accept cryptocurrencies. XMONEY has also expanded Binance Pay's total global merchant network to more than 32,000 businesses, thereby promoting secure and innovative payment solutions.
Financing News
Web3 game Fableborne completes $12.4 million in new round of financing, led by Delphi Ventures
According to NFT Plazas, Pixion Games, the game studio behind the Web3 action role-playing game Fableborne, announced that it has raised $12.4 million in its latest round of financing, led by Delphi Ventures, with participation from Animoca Brands, Yield Guild Games (YGG), and Axie Infinity creator Sky Mavis. The financing will help it prepare for the launch of POWER tokens later this year. According to reports, Fableborne is a free Web3 action role-playing game built on Ronin. Fableborne was developed by Pixion Games and is currently in its first season. Players can build bases, form alliances with other players, defend their lands, and attack opponents. Players can also create and command a team of heroes to protect their bases and conquer the world.
Important data
According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (February 3, Eastern Time), the total net outflow of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $235 million. Yesterday, Grayscale ETF GBTC had a net inflow of $8.0191 million in a single day, and the current historical net outflow of GBTC is $21.883 billion. Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF BTC had a net outflow of $0.00 in a single day, and the current historical total net inflow of Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust BTC is $1.232 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $119.14 billion, and the ETF net asset ratio (market value to the total market value of Bitcoin) is 5.95%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached $40.263 billion.
According to Spot On Chain monitoring, the Trump family's crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) transferred a total of 8 crypto assets worth $307 million to Coinbase Prime 6 hours ago for fund management and business operations. Subsequently, 19,423 stETH were unpledged and converted into ETH, and 1,826 ETH were purchased at an average price of $2,738 per ETH for 5 million USDC. Currently, World Liberty Financial holds various assets worth $96.62 million in 9 known wallets.
About 200,000 Crypto Wallets Suffer Losses on Exchanges Due to “TRUMP” Coin
According to Jinshi, three blockchain analysis companies estimate that the entity behind US President Trump's cryptocurrency has earned nearly $100 million in transaction fees in less than two weeks, which is a huge windfall, but thousands of small traders have suffered losses. Trump launched a token called "TRUMP" on January 17 and it quickly soared. Three crypto data companies, including Merkle Science and Chainalysis, analyzed the blockchain to show all transactions involving "TRUMP". They estimate that as of January 30, the "TRUMP" token has generated $86 million to $100 million in transaction fees. This is far more than previously reported. One of the entities behind this cryptocurrency is a company owned by Trump called CIC Digital. The official website of "TRUMP" stated that CIC Digital will "receive trading income from the trading activities of this meme coin." At the same time, about 200,000 crypto wallets (most of which are small assets) suffered losses on the exchange due to the "TRUMP" coin.
According to previous news, Trump's token "TRUMP" has fallen by more than 70% from its high point; sources said that the entity behind Trump made a huge profit of $100 million in transaction fees through the "TRUMP" token.
Circle has minted 6.25 billion USDC on Solana so far this year
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, with Circle minting another 250 million USDC, Circle has minted 6.25 billion USDC on the Solana chain so far in 2025.
CryptoQuant CEO: Bitcoin kimchi premium is currently 12%, the highest level in three years
Ki Young Ju, founder and CEO of CryptoQuant, wrote on the X platform that the Bitcoin kimchi premium is currently 12%, the highest level in three years, and the main reason for the decline in BTC seems to be the strengthening of the US dollar index (DXY).
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a whale did not sell ai16z and ZEREBRO at the best time and missed out on more than $40 million in profits. On January 2, the whale made $40.8 million in unrealized profits on ai16z and ZEREBRO, but he did not sell for profit. On January 9, he sold ZEREBRO and lost about $1 million. 10 hours ago, he sold 21.34 million ai16z ($9.18 million) and lost about $1 million again.
According to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency market had a total of $2.353 billion in liquidation in the past 24 hours, including $1.906 billion in long positions and $447 million in short positions. The total amount of BTC liquidation was $467 million, and the total amount of ETH liquidation was $633 million.
