Today's News Highlights:
The President of the Czech Republic signs a new law exempting capital gains tax for Bitcoin holders after 3 years.
Cboe BZX Exchange submits 19b-4 documents on behalf of multiple issuers to apply for the listing and trading of an XRP spot ETF.
Legislation for investing in Bitcoin in Utah, USA, has passed the House of Representatives.
Japan's Financial Services Agency requests Apple and Google to suspend the apps of five unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges.
Telegram mandates that all cryptocurrency wallets use TON Connect, sparking community backlash.
Ondo Finance announces the launch of Layer-1 blockchain Ondo Chain to promote asset tokenization.
Solayer reveals LAYER tokenomics: maximum supply of 1 billion, with 51.23% allocated to the community and ecosystem.
Ethereum's Pectra upgrade will begin testing in February, with a mainnet launch expected in April.
Sun Yuchen sues David Geffen over a $78.4 million collection, claiming it was sold without authorization by his art advisor.
Regulation/Macro
Canadian regulators have announced that cryptocurrency funds no longer qualify for reduced margin treatment, a rule that applies to crypto funds involved in OCC options trading. The regulators stated that this policy aims to reduce market instability due to volatility and liquidity risks while increasing leverage trading costs. However, specific margin qualifications can still be individually assessed based on IDPC rules 5310(1) and 5311(1).
Czech President signs new law exempting capital gains tax for Bitcoin holders after 3 years
According to Bitcoin Magazine, the President of the Czech Republic has officially signed a law that exempts capital gains tax for those holding Bitcoin for more than 3 years.
Cboe BZX Exchange has submitted 19b-4 documents on behalf of Bitwise, 21Shares, and Canary Capital to apply for the listing and trading of an XRP spot ETF. The 19b-4 document is the second part of a two-step process to propose a cryptocurrency ETF to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Once confirmed by the SEC, the document will be published in the Federal Register, initiating the agency's approval process.
Bitwise first submitted a registration application for the spot XRP ETF in October 2023, while 21Shares submitted an S-1 registration statement for the XRP ETF to the SEC in November. WisdomTree submitted an application for a spot XRP ETF to the SEC in December 2023, and NYSE Arca filed a 19b-4 document on January 30, applying to convert Grayscale's XRP trust into a spot cryptocurrency ETF. CoinShares also submitted a registration statement for the "CoinShares XRP ETF" last month. Purpose Investments submitted a preliminary prospectus for the XRP ETF to Canadian regulators on January 31, hoping to become the world's first issuer of an XRP ETF.
U.S. SEC considers modifying BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF to allow for physical redemption
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering a proposal that would modify BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF to allow for physical redemption. In a document released on Thursday, the SEC acknowledged the proposal and requested comments within 21 days after the document is published in the Federal Register. According to the document, the SEC may then decide to approve, deny, or "initiate proceedings."
According to the 19b-4 form, Nasdaq released a rule amendment document on behalf of BlackRock last month, which would allow the iShares Bitcoin Trust to conduct physical redemptions and creations. Over a year ago, when the SEC was considering whether to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, companies were discussing the technical details of how the redemption process for the product would work. The SEC favored a cash model, which required BlackRock to remove Bitcoin from storage, sell it immediately, and return the cash to investors. The SEC later approved BlackRock's spot ETF proposal and other proposals in January 2024.
Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart stated in a post on platform X that changing the redemption and creation process does not mean that individual investors will be able to conduct physical transactions; only authorized participants can do so.
Legislation for investing in Bitcoin in Utah, USA, has passed the House of Representatives
According to Bitcoin Magazine, legislation for investing in Bitcoin in Utah has passed the House of Representatives and is now under review by the Senate.
Franklin Templeton seeks SEC approval to launch a new cryptocurrency index ETF
According to Reuters, Franklin Templeton Investments announced on Thursday that it is seeking regulatory approval to launch a new cryptocurrency index ETF, as the asset management company hopes to profit from the cryptocurrency boom following Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election. In a document submitted to regulators on Thursday, Franklin Templeton stated, "The fund may currently hold no digital assets other than Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is uncertain whether any digital assets other than Bitcoin and Ethereum will be added to the underlying index in the future." This provides room for Franklin Templeton to modify its ETF after obtaining SEC approval for other cryptocurrencies.
According to Nikkei News, Japan's Financial Services Agency has requested Apple and Google to block the download of apps from five overseas cryptocurrency exchanges that are operating without registration. The five companies are Bybit Fintech Limited, MEXC Global, LBank Exchange, KuCoin, and Bitget Limited. The Financial Services Agency issued warnings to these companies based on the Payment Services Act and published their names, having previously warned them multiple times not to conduct business targeting Japanese customers, but they did not cease operations. Therefore, the Financial Services Agency has decided for the first time to request them to stop operations. Following this request, Apple has removed these apps from the App Store, and new downloads will no longer be available from February 6. Google, which operates the Play Store, has not yet announced its handling results.
Earlier today, it was reported that apps from Bybit, Bitget, MEXC, Kucoin, etc., have been removed from the Japanese App Store.
Kentucky lawmaker TJ Roberts has initiated HB376, proposing to invest 10% of state funds in digital assets with a market cap exceeding $750 billion.
Previous news indicated that lawmakers in South Dakota and Kentucky plan to propose Bitcoin reserve legislation.
Project Updates
Strategy plans to list STRK convertible preferred stock on Nasdaq this Thursday
Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) is expected to list its convertible preferred stock Strike (STRK) on Nasdaq this Thursday. The company announced key performance targets for 2025 in its latest financial report, including a $10 billion Bitcoin revenue target and a 15% Bitcoin yield. To date, its BTC-related revenue has reached $1.24 billion, with a year-to-date yield of 2.9%.
Additionally, due to not adopting FASB accounting standards, the company recorded a $1 billion asset impairment loss and plans to adopt new rules in this quarter. So far, the company has used $17 billion of the $21 billion ATM stock issuance plan, with stock sales accounting for 2.9% of total trading volume. Strategy's stock price rose 1.3% in pre-market trading.
Ondo Finance announces the launch of Layer-1 blockchain Ondo Chain to promote asset tokenization
Ondo Finance, the second-largest tokenization platform for U.S. Treasury bonds, has announced the launch of Ondo Chain, a permissioned Layer-1 blockchain designed for traditional financial institutions, aimed at connecting traditional capital markets with decentralized finance (DeFi).
Ondo Chain will comply with regulatory standards while maintaining the transparency and accessibility of public chains, using permissioned validation nodes to ensure the accuracy of financial data. The network supports tokenized asset staking and inter-chain interoperability, providing institutions with more efficient asset management solutions.
Telegram mandates that all cryptocurrency wallets use TON Connect, sparking community backlash
Telegram now requires all third-party cryptocurrency wallets to use TON Connect as the sole wallet connection protocol and restricts Mini Apps to only support the TON blockchain, leading to controversies over decentralization and exclusivity.
Telegram has set February 21 as the deadline for migration, and wallets that have not integrated TON Connect will be suspended. The official wallet, Wallet in Telegram, remains unaffected due to its native support for TON Connect. Bitget Wallet integrated TON Connect on January 16 to optimize the user experience within the Telegram ecosystem.
This move has sparked dissatisfaction among some developers, with Grindery Wallet even considering exiting the Telegram ecosystem. CEO Tim Delhaes pointed out that Telegram has given developers very little time to adjust, likening it to monopolistic behavior by large tech companies, which could undermine developers' trust in the platform.
Binance to launch BERA U-based perpetual contracts
According to Binance's announcement, Berachain (BERA) will gradually launch services such as Binance Wealth Management, one-click buy, flash exchange, leverage, and contracts from February 6 to 7.
- Wealth Management: BERA principal-protected earning account will open for subscription on February 6 at 21:00, with regular investment purchases available from February 7 at 18:00.
- One-click buy & Flash exchange: BERA spot will be available for purchase with credit cards, Google Pay, and Apple Pay within one hour of launch, with no fees for exchanging BTC, USDT, etc.
- Leverage trading: On February 7 at 00:00, BERA/USDT and BERA/USDC will support full and isolated margin leverage, with VIP 7-9 users able to borrow 30 minutes in advance.
- Contracts: BERA U-based perpetual contracts (1-75x leverage) will launch on February 6 at 23:00.
Berachain mainnet officially launched, Bera NFT airdrop now available
According to the official announcement from the Berachain Foundation, the Berachain mainnet has officially launched. This chain is an EVM-compatible L1 blockchain that uses a Proof of Liquidity consensus mechanism, supports single-slot finality, and is secured and integrated with liquidity through the BeaconKit modular framework.
- Bera NFT airdrop: Available at airdrop.berachain.com, requiring users to bridge from Ethereum to Berachain via nftbridge.berachain.com.
- Cross-chain bridge: bridge.berachain.com (supports LayerZero and Stargate).
- Transaction queries: berascan.com (supported by Etherscan).
- Ecosystem infrastructure: Includes Safe multi-signature, Tenderly debugging, Fireblocks MPC wallet, Pyth oracle, etc., with ecosystem dApp TVL exceeding $3 billion.
- Security audit: Audited by Spearbit, Nethermind, and Quantstamp, with a bug bounty program launched on Immunefi.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) has applied to register trademarks for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and separately managed accounts (SMAs) under the Truth.Fi brand, including Truth.Fi American-Made ETF, American Energy Independence ETF, and Bitcoin Plus ETF. This plan is part of TMTG's fintech strategy, expected to attract up to $250 million in investments, with Charles Schwab as the custodian. Additionally, the company has reached a service and licensing agreement with Yorkville Advisors, which will act as the registered investment advisor responsible for product design and regulatory advancement. TMTG CEO Devin Nunes stated that this investment tool aims to provide options for investors that align with "America First" principles, including Bitcoin-related strategies, distinguishing it from existing financial products in the market.
Coinbase International to launch Berachain perpetual contracts
According to the announcement from Coinbase International Exchange, the platform and Coinbase Advanced will support Berachain (BERA) perpetual contracts, with the BERA-PERP market expected to open for trading on February 6, 2025, at 17:00 UTC or later.
Coinbase International to launch PENGU, POPCAT, HNT perpetual contracts
According to the announcement from Coinbase International Exchange, the platform and Coinbase Advanced will support perpetual contracts for PENGU, Popcat (POPCAT), and Helium (HNT), with the relevant markets expected to open for trading on February 13, 2025, at 9:30 UTC or later.
Insiders: Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini considering IPO as early as this year
According to Bloomberg, insiders revealed that the cryptocurrency company Gemini, backed by billionaire twins Winklevoss, is considering an initial public offering (IPO) as early as this year. The cryptocurrency exchange and custodian is in negotiations with potential advisors regarding the listing.
Gemini's website indicates that the company has offices in New York, Seattle, Singapore, London, Dublin, and Gurugram, India, with over 500 employees.
Trump family's crypto project WLFI plans to create a "strategic" token reserve
Chase Herro, co-founder of World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi project associated with President Trump, stated that the platform plans to create a "strategic reserve" using purchased tokens. Herro did not specify the goals for World Liberty's token reserve. This topic has garnered attention since Trump promised to establish a token reserve during his campaign last year. Last month, he signed an executive order requiring an assessment of the feasibility of creating a digital asset reserve. Donald Trump Jr. appeared at the Ondo Summit held at Lincoln Center Jazz Hall on Thursday, marking the president's latest initiative to demonstrate support for the digital asset industry.
Although World Liberty is marketed as a DeFi lending platform, it has yet to commence operations. So far, the project is known for purchasing niche tokens.
Solayer, a re-staking platform on Solana, has announced the tokenomics for its governance token LAYER, with a maximum supply of 1 billion tokens and an initial circulation of 220 million tokens. The allocation ratios are as follows: ① 51.23% allocated to the community and ecosystem: of which 34.23% is for ongoing R&D, developer programs, ecosystem development, and other user activities; 14% for community activities/incentives (12% reserved for the Genesis Drop, including rewards for early adopters and other initial claiming activities); 3% distributed through Emerald Card community sales. ② 17.11% allocated to core contributors. ③ 16.66% sold to investors. ④ 15% allocated to the Solayer Foundation to support product expansion and network development.
Regarding the LAYER genesis airdrop, the second LAYER distribution is aimed at existing community members who have supported Solayer since its launch in 2024. Solayer has reserved 12% of the total supply for Solayer community members, integration partners, and liquidity providers, as well as users who meet the following criteria: holders of Solayer sSOL and sUSD, users who delegated sSOL to AVS partners, users who deposited sSOL or sUSD in partnered DeFi protocols, users who deposited whitelisted LST (liquid staking tokens) on Solayer, users who deposited into Solayer through partner and wallet activities, LRT protocol, and other claiming programs.
Additionally, Solayer stated that its core focus is on infinitely scaling the SVM (Solana Virtual Machine). In 2025, Solayer will introduce the concept of offloading blockchain hardware to programmable hardware chips, achieving infinite scalability—launching a million TPS network, InfiniSVM.
Ethereum's Pectra upgrade will begin testing in February, expected to launch on the mainnet in April
Ethereum developers have officially set the testing date for the Pectra upgrade, the first upgrade for the network in 11 months, which is expected to be released in April.
Ethereum's core developers decided during Thursday's bi-weekly "All Core Developers" call to begin testing Pectra on the Holesky testnet on February 26, with follow-up testing planned on the Sepolia testnet on March 5. If these tests are successful, developers will meet again on March 6 to determine the timing for the official release of the upgrade. According to Tim Beiko, head of protocol support at the Ethereum Foundation, developers expect the upgrade to go live on the mainnet in early April.
Pectra will include a series of improvements, with a particular focus on wallets and validators. Pectra is composed of two independent upgrade bundles, Prague and Electra, and includes eight significant improvements to Ethereum. The most anticipated is EIP-7702, which aims to enhance the user experience of cryptocurrency wallets by reconfiguring externally owned accounts (EOAs) on Ethereum to support smart contract functionality. Another major feature of Pectra, EIP-7251, will allow validators to increase their stakable ETH from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, and it will also help expedite the setup process for new nodes, as the current system requires validators to queue for weeks to launch new infrastructure.
Sun Yuchen is suing billionaire collector David Geffen for the return of the Alberto Giacometti sculpture "Le Nez," which he purchased for $78.4 million at Sotheby's in 2021. Sun alleges that his art advisor, Xiong Zihan Sydney, sold the sculpture to Geffen without his knowledge by forging signatures and fabricating a lawyer.
Sun claims he never authorized Xiong to conduct any transactions, yet Xiong arranged a deal through intermediaries to exchange the sculpture for two paintings and $10.5 million in cryptocurrency between January and March 2024, far below Sun's target price. Additionally, Xiong allegedly deceived Sun with the cash portion of the transaction, presenting it as a "deposit" from a fictitious buyer while withholding $500,000. Sun only discovered this when he inquired about the transaction's progress in December.
However, Geffen's lawyer disputed the allegations, calling them bizarre and baseless, suggesting that Sun is merely regretting the original transaction. The lawyer pointed out that the deal was completed through intermediaries, and if Sun is now dissatisfied with the transaction arranged by his intermediary, that does not provide grounds for a claim against Geffen. Sun's lawyer argued that Geffen's team should have identified obvious red flags before the transaction, particularly that the lawyer allegedly hired by Xiong handled business through a personal Gmail account. The lawyer questioned the existence of this lawyer and stated that Xiong repeatedly forged Sun's signature and fabricated the lawyer's existence, which is illegal.
Oneness Labs issued a statement saying: "Regarding the recent false statements made by Lingkong Company and Mr. Luo Yuxiang about Oneness Labs and SHOWA, we wish to clarify the facts and respond to external inquiries. First, for the past four months, Oneness Labs and Lingkong Games, as well as the production team of 'SHOWA: American Story,' have maintained close communication at the executive level. We have had in-depth discussions with the executives and shareholders of Lingkong Games, including Mr. Luo Yuxiang, involving conference calls and thousands of messages exchanged, focusing on the token empowerment model, community management, and future development. Lingkong Games has been aware of SHOWA's development process from the beginning. We reserve the right to disclose all dialogues, recordings, and texts.
Secondly, Oneness Labs has indeed become a shareholder of Lingkong Games by acquiring equity held by co-founder Troy Dunniway. This acquisition has been confirmed by Troy Dunniway himself. Denying Oneness Labs' shareholder status and the legitimacy of SHOWA is a malicious and dishonest act that severely undermines Oneness Labs' rights as a shareholder of Lingkong. Oneness Labs will immediately resort to legal action regarding the reputational and economic harm caused by the actions of Lingkong Games and Mr. Luo Yuxiang to Oneness Labs and related stakeholders."
Previously, yesterday's news stated that Lingkong Games announced it has never engaged in any commercial cooperation with Oneness Labs and has no relationship with the "SHOWA token."
Bybit to launch IPUSDT perpetual contracts
According to official news, Bybit will launch the Story (IP) U-based perpetual contracts tonight at 8 PM (UTC+8) during pre-market trading.
Opinions
CZ initiates a vote on "Should BNB Chain attempt to eliminate/reduce the MEV issue?"
CZ initiated a vote on the X platform asking, "Should BNB Chain attempt to eliminate/reduce the MEV issue?" CZ expressed his dislike for any form of "front-running," which is what MEV represents. In a decentralized world, no one can completely prevent it, but there are ways to reduce it.
VanEck: Expects Solana's SOL token price to reach $520 by the end of 2025
Investment firm VanEck predicts that as demand for smart contract platforms (SCP) grows and the U.S. M2 money supply increases in the coming months, Solana's SOL token price will reach $520 by the end of 2025. VanEck forecasts that the M2 money supply will grow from the current $21.5 trillion to $22.3 trillion by 2025. When the U.S. central bank increases M2 through lower interest rates or quantitative easing, more funds enter circulation, increasing liquidity in the economy and encouraging investment in risk assets like cryptocurrencies.
On the other hand, the SCP market is the domain where platforms like Solana operate, allowing for the creation and execution of smart contracts. VanEck estimates that by the end of 2025, the SCP market could grow by 43% to reach $1.1 trillion. Currently, Solana holds about 15% of that market share, but VanEck expects this percentage to rise to 22% by the end of 2025. The report adds: "Using an autoregressive (AR) forecasting model, we estimate that Solana's market cap will reach approximately $250 billion, based on about 486 million circulating tokens, which means the price of SOL will reach $520."
Matrixport: Solana whales are cashing out profits, meme coin hype is fading
Matrixport noted in a report that while many traders may make emotional trading decisions, Bitcoin consistently responds rationally to macroeconomic, monetary, and liquidity events. Following Trump's victory in November 2024, the market widely anticipated that he would establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and position the U.S. as a global cryptocurrency hub, leading to significant increases in both Bitcoin and altcoins. However, the hawkish tone from the December FOMC meeting suppressed liquidity expectations. Market sentiment remained strong leading up to Trump's inauguration on January 20, but uncertainty gradually increased afterward.
Unlike the new DeFi cycle during the 2020/2021 bull market, the era of meme coins and Pump.fun has arrived. The two main beneficiaries of the Pump.fun meme coin craze are Solana and Raydium, but as daily trading activity declines, the momentum driven by hype is rapidly fading. In the past 30 days, the daily issuance of meme coins on Pump.fun has decreased by 16%, indicating waning speculative interest. A key factor contributing to this slowdown is the Trump meme coin, which attracted a large number of retail investors to buy in at unfavorable prices.
Despite the recent surge in Raydium (RAY) prices, a significant trend has emerged: the number of wallets holding over 10,000 SOL has sharply decreased in the past two months, indicating that large holders are cashing out, which may suppress the continued rise in SOL prices. However, this may also suggest that early whales who accumulated SOL before the meme coin cycle at the end of 2023 are now cashing out and reallocating their profits to Bitcoin. This movement could explain why, despite an overall pullback in the altcoin market, Bitcoin remains resilient.
Important Data
A whale made a profit of $589,000 by shorting BERA in less than 2 hours
According to Lookonchain monitoring, after BERA was listed, a whale made a profit of $589,000 by shorting BERA in less than 2 hours. The whale deposited 1.6 million USDC into Hyperliquid 16 hours ago and shorted BERA at around $13. He then closed the position and withdrew 2.19 million USDC, realizing a profit of $589,000.
A giant whale sold 8,500 ETH for 23.25 million DAI in the last hour
According to Lookonchain monitoring, in the past hour, a giant whale sold 8,500 ETH at an average price of $2,736, exchanging it for 23.25 million DAI.
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