Today's news tips:
1. Next week's macro outlook: Trump 2.0 era is about to begin, Bitcoin may fly higher
2. Trump will be officially sworn in as President of the United States at 1 a.m. Beijing time on the 21st
3. South Korean court approves detention order for Yoon Seok-yeol
4. OKX, Coinbase, and Binance launch TRUMP
5. SOL hits a new high, and Solana's market value rises to 146th in the global asset market value ranking
6. TRUMP enters the top ten of cryptocurrency FDV, currently ranked 7th
7.Vitalik: We are currently undergoing a large-scale change in the leadership structure of the Ethereum Foundation
8. This week, NFT transaction volume reached US$164.3 million, and the number of buyers and sellers increased by more than 100% month-on-month
Regulatory/Macro
Next week’s macro outlook: Trump 2.0 is about to begin, and Bitcoin may fly higher
In the last trading week before Trump returns to the White House, positive inflation data and dovish comments from Fed Governor Waller have helped to boost market expectations of rate cuts. Money markets are currently pricing in a 40 basis point rate cut by the Fed in 2025. As the Fed enters a quiet period, U.S. economic data next week will be light, and the market will focus on the start of President Trump's term and its potential market impact. Here are the key points that the market will focus on in the new week:
On Monday, the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos will be held until January 24;
At 23:00 on Wednesday, the monthly rate of the Conference Board’s leading index for December in the United States;
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will speak at 23:05 on Wednesday and 18:00 on Friday;
At 21:30 on Thursday, the number of initial jobless claims in the United States for the week ending January 18;
Friday is to be determined. The Bank of Japan will announce its interest rate decision and economic outlook report. At 12:30, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will hold a monetary policy press conference.
At 22:45 on Friday, the preliminary values of the US S&P global manufacturing and services PMI for January will be released.
Bitcoin has the potential to fly higher given that Trump is expected to announce crypto-friendly policies. People familiar with the matter revealed that Trump plans to issue an executive order to elevate cryptocurrency to a "policy priority" and give industry insiders a voice in his government, marking a possible major shift in U.S. cryptocurrency policy. It is reported that the executive order will also include a suspension of any lawsuits involving cryptocurrency and consideration of establishing a national Bitcoin reserve.
Vanguard to pay $106 million to settle SEC charges
The Vanguard Group, Inc. will pay $106.41 million to settle allegations that it made misleading statements about capital gains distributions and tax implications that affected retail investors who held Vanguard Investor TRFs in taxable accounts, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in a press release. The settlement amount will be distributed to affected investors.
Earlier news, Vanguard Group CEO Tim Buckley said that the company would not seek a Bitcoin ETF like competitors such as BlackRock and Fidelity. A spokesperson said that the reason for not launching a Bitcoin ETF is the same as the reason why a gold ETF has never been launched. Bitcoin lacks "intrinsic value", has no cash flow, and is too volatile.
South Korean court approves detention order for Yoon Seok-yeol
According to a report by Jinshi citing South Korean media, the Seoul Western District Court approved the detention order for the arrested President Yoon Seok-yeol in the early morning of the 19th. Yoon Seok-yeol became the first president in South Korea's constitutional history to be detained for investigation as a sitting president.
US SEC sues Nova Labs for alleged fraud and registration violations
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Nova Labs, Inc. (“Nova Labs”) with offering crypto assets as securities in an unregistered manner and defrauding investors. According to the SEC’s complaint, from April 2019 to the present, Nova Labs engaged in an unregistered offer and sale of securities when it offered and sold electronic devices called “Hotspots” (used to mine Nova Labs’ crypto assets) and “Discovery Mapping” (a program that allows users to exchange their private data for Nova Labs’ crypto assets). The SEC seeks a permanent injunction against Nova Labs, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.
According to Cointelegraph, South Korean authorities found that Upbit had more than 500,000 KYC violations and the fine could be as high as $34.3 billion.
Earlier news, South Korean financial authorities notified Upbit that it would face suspension and rectification .
Donald Trump will be officially sworn in as the 47th President of the United States at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on January 20 (1:00 a.m. Beijing Time on January 21).
Inauguration Day includes a formal swearing-in ceremony, musical performances, a celebratory parade and a series of formal balls. Vice President-elect JD Vance will also be sworn in and take the stage with Trump to officially take charge of the new government.
Trump's second inauguration will begin with a ceremony at St. John's Church in historic Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., followed by refreshments at the White House. Musical performances and opening remarks will begin at 9:30 a.m. EST (22:30 p.m. Beijing time on the 20th) on the main event stage on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Trump and Vance will then take the oath of office, and the president will deliver his inaugural address outlining his goals for the next four years. Trump will then go to the Oval Office near the Senate to sign important documents. He will then attend a lunch hosted by the Congressional Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. The parade will then travel from the Capitol along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
Later that evening, Trump will attend three inaugural balls - the Commander-in-Chief Ball, the Freedom Inaugural Ball and the Starlight Ball - and he is expected to deliver speeches at all three.
Project News
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote that a large-scale change is currently being made to the leadership structure of the Ethereum Foundation. This change has been going on for nearly a year. Some of these changes have been implemented and announced, while some are still in progress. The main goals are to achieve the following:
- Increase the level of technical expertise among the Ethereum Foundation’s leadership;
- Improve two-way communication and engagement between the Ethereum Foundation leadership and new and existing ecosystem participants. The Ethereum Foundation’s role is to support: users (individuals and institutions), application developers, wallets, L2;
- Introduce fresh talents to improve execution capabilities and speed;
- More actively supporting application developers to ensure that important values and inalienable rights (especially privacy, open source, censorship resistance) are a reality for users, including at the application layer;
- Continue to increase the use of decentralized and privacy technologies and the Ethereum chain, including for payments and funds management.
Things to avoid in the future include:
- to enforce some kind of ideological/atmospheric shift;
- Start actively lobbying regulators and powerful politicians (especially in the US, but really anywhere, especially big countries) and risk compromising Ethereum’s position as a globally neutral platform;
- It has become an arena for vested interests;
- Become a highly centralized organization and even become the "protagonist" of Ethereum.
Vitalik changed his Twitter profile picture to Milady 9286
Vitalik Buterin bought Milady 9286 and changed it to his Twitter account avatar.
Binance.US replaces X avatar with Pudgy Penguins series NFT
According to the official Twitter account, Binance.US replaced the X avatar with the Pudgy Penguins series of NFTs.
OpenAI plans to release its new AI model, o3 mini, in the coming weeks, TechinAsia reported. CEO Sam Altman announced that the release will include both the API and ChatGPT, and incorporate user feedback. The company previously aimed to launch o3 mini in January 2025, with the full o3 model expected to follow shortly thereafter.
OKX will launch TRUMP spot trading
According to the official announcement, OKX will launch TRUMP (OFFICIAL TRUMP) spot trading.
Coinbase adds Official Trump (TRUMP) to its coin listing roadmap
According to the official announcement, Coinbase has included Official Trump (TRUMP) in its coin listing roadmap.
Binance will list OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP) and add a seed tag to it
According to the official announcement, Binance will launch OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP) at 16:30 (UTC+8) and add a seed tag to it.
SOL hit a record high of $274.93
The OKX market data shows that SOL broke through $270, reaching a high of $274.93, a record high. It is currently trading at $272.51, up 4.3% today.
Solana's market value rises to 146th in the global asset market value ranking
According to 8marketcap data, Solana's market value has risen to approximately US$130.6 billion, surpassing companies such as Airbus and Boeing, and has risen 39 places in the global asset market value ranking, currently ranking 146th.
Trump enters the top ten cryptocurrencies by FDV, currently ranked 7th
Coingecko data shows that TRUMP ranks among the top ten cryptocurrencies in terms of FDV. At the time of writing, TRUMP was trading at $60.49, up 231.33% in 24 hours, with a market capitalization of $11,882,865,984 and a FDV (fully diluted value) of $59,414,329,997, ranking seventh in the cryptocurrency FDV ranking, second only to BNB.
Viewpoint
According to Eric Trump’s post on the X platform, David Sacks, the White House AI and cryptocurrency director appointed by Trump, said: “The reign of terror against cryptocurrency is over, and a new era of cryptocurrency innovation in the United States has just begun.”
Trump's eldest son Eric Trump: $USA token has nothing to do with us
In response to the crypto community's mention that "in addition to $TRUMP, another token called $USA will be issued within a week", Trump's eldest son Eric Trump tweeted that "the $USA token has nothing to do with us."
Earlier news , Trump's eldest son Eric Trump posted on the X platform, quoting the speech of the crypto czar David Sacks: "The reign of terror against cryptocurrencies is over, and the beginning of cryptocurrency innovation in the United States has just begun." He also mentioned Bitcoin, the Trump family project World Liberty Financial, and $TRUMP.
Bybit CEO reflects on the launch effect of $TRUMP: Focus on building Onchain in 2025 Bybit
Bybit CEO BEN tweeted to reflect on the market effect after $TRUMP, saying: Yesterday, all CEXs had a large outflow of SOL and USDC, rushing to the chain in exchange for $TRUMP. Moonshoot + Meteora/Jupiter created more than 30 billion memecoins in less than 10 hours without any CEX. In 2025, we will focus on building Onchain Bybit, investing heavily in Bybit web3 wallet (self-custody) user experience and onchian infrastructure, hoping to become the user's gateway to web3. The reason is simple, if you don't join this revolution, you will be eliminated.
Nick Tomaino, founder of 1confirmation, interpreted Trump's launch of TRUMP: The change in atmosphere from the Biden anti-crypto era to the Trump era is great. Trump owns 80% of the TRUMP coin share and launched it a few hours before the inauguration, which is predatory and many people may be hurt by it. Trump should airdrop it to the people instead of using this to enrich himself or his team. At present, it looks like an FTX token.
CZ tweeted: "FOMO has just begun..." Previously on January 15, CZ said: "Everyone has FOMO. Just do it responsibly."
Some industry insiders have criticized Trump for launching the meme coin TRUMP. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of Skybridge Capital, said: "Trump's meme coin is bad for the industry. Don't fool yourself. This is Idi Amin (3rd President of Uganda) level corruption." Ben Meiselas, co-founder of Meidas Touch, said that Trump could have focused on more urgent matters instead of paying attention to meme coins.
Earlier news , according to Bloomberg, many institutions believe that Trump's issuance of the Meme coin TRUMP is unethical.
Important data
CryptoSlam data shows that NFT transaction volume reached $164.3 million this week, up 5.8% from last week. NFT buyers surged 115.49% to 270,108, the number of NFT sellers increased 107.81% to 218,676, and the number of transactions fell 4.58% to 1,466,206.
Ethereum network NFT transaction volume increased by 40% to $85.6 million, and the number of buyers increased by 52.54% to 37,913. Bitcoin network NFT transaction volume fell by 10.9% to $27.5 million. Solana network ranked third with a transaction volume of $14.6 million, a drop of 30.8%. Base still ranked fifth with a transaction volume of $8.36 million, an increase of 13.82%.
Azuki ranked first with $15.4 million in trading volume, up 268.21%. The number of buyers for this series increased by 253.45%. Pudgy Penguins ranked second with $8 million in trading volume, down 8.04%. CryptoPunks ranked third with $7.8 million in trading volume, up 126.31%. BRC-20 NFT fell to fourth place with $7.6 million in trading volume, down 7.79%.
This week’s best-selling NFT series:
- CryptoPunks #4940: $502,941 (150 ETH)
- CryptoPunks #7338: $319,016 (100 ETH)
- CryptoPunks #1782: $250,594 (75 ETH)
- CryptoPunks #8619: $178,123 (54 ETH)
- CryptoPunks #7376: $177,515 (55 ETH)
Moonshot adds ~400k new users after $TRUMP launch
Moonshot tweeted that after being recommended as the preferred purchase method on the $TRUMP website, it processed nearly $400 million in trading volume in 12 hours, breaking the record for fiat currency entry. It has currently brought nearly 400,000 new users to the chain.
The 10th largest $TRUMP holder has transferred 1.271 million $TRUMP to OKX 50 minutes ago
According to the monitoring of on-chain analyst Ember, the 10th largest holder of $TRUMP has transferred all 1.271 million $TRUMP to OKX 50 minutes ago. He bought it at an average price of $11.15 and transferred it to OKX at a price of 34.34 media, and is expected to realize a profit of $29.48 million.
According to @ai_9684xtpa, Binance will launch $TRUMP spot at 4:30 pm. The team address 7qtDv...kRnpE recharged 4.5 million TRUMP (about 177 million US dollars) to Binance 10 minutes ago. This address has recharged 29.92 million tokens to various exchanges in the past 24 hours, with a total value of 1.27 billion US dollars. It has received 30 million tokens distributed by the DEV address. Currently, the two related addresses still hold 17.89 million TRUMP, about 700 million US dollars.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, after $TRUMP went online, a whale bridged 63.9 million USDC to Solana and borrowed 23.4 million USDC from Kamino to buy $TRUMP and $SOL. He spent 11.5 million USDC to buy 1 million $TRUMP ($43.3 million) at $11.5, with an unrealized profit of $31.8 million. He also spent 75.8 million USDC to buy 312,571 SOL ($85.6 million) at $242.59, with an unrealized profit of $9.8 million.
