Weekly Report | Trump announces the launch of personal meme coin TRUMP; crypto wallet Phantom completes $150 million Series C financing with a valuation of $3 billion; TikTok announces that after suspending services in the U.S., the overseas version of CapCut will also cease operations
Trump: "Very likely" to give TikTok a 90-day grace period on the day of taking office; Supreme Procuratorate: Lawfully crack down on crimes that use virtual currency to illegally transfer assets abroad; VanEck submits on-chain economy ETF application to the U.S. SEC.Organizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened This Week (1.13-1.19)"
1、Tether Executives Purchase Property in El Salvador and Become Citizens
According to Protos citing local media El Faro, Tether executives are spending significant amounts of money to purchase real estate in El Salvador and have become citizens of El Salvador.
The company's Chief Financial Officer Giancarlo Devasini, Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino, and Chief Operating Officer Claudia Lagorio purchased two plots of land worth $1.7 million, located in the luxury golf resort Condominio Villanueva Golf Country Club, which is also part of the residential area El Encanto. The contracts show that Ardoino and Lagorio have become naturalized citizens of El Salvador.
2、BlackRock and MicroStrategy Buy a Total of $74 Billion in Bitcoin in 2024
According to Bitcoin Magazine, BlackRock purchased $50 billion worth of Bitcoin in 2024, while MicroStrategy bought $24 billion worth of Bitcoin.
3、Donald Trump Jr. Becomes Strategic Advisor for Prediction Market Kalshi
According to Aggr News, Donald Trump Jr. has been appointed as a strategic advisor for Kalshi, entering the prediction market.
According to The Washington Post, Trump is expected to issue an executive order on his first day in office regarding de-banking and repealing the controversial cryptocurrency accounting policy that requires banks holding digital assets to treat them as liabilities.
Sources say, "The Trump team has made it clear that this is a priority." These upcoming executive measures target cryptocurrency regulation and aim to protect cryptocurrency investors from what Trump calls the "Washington bureaucratic swamp."
5、Binance.US Interim CEO: SEC Unsubstantiated Fraud Claims, Dollar Fiat Services to Resume in Weeks
According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) led by Gary Gensler has labeled Binance.US as a "melting pot of fraud," using its power and influence to cut off the company's banking relationships and dollar fiat channels. Binance.US Interim CEO Norman Reed stated in an interview with CoinDesk that the SEC failed to provide any evidence to support its claims in court.
After the SEC filed a lawsuit, Binance.US lost thousands of customers and billions in losses, forcing it to lay off 70% of its staff.
Norman Reed stated, "Dollar fiat services are expected to be revitalized and operational in the coming weeks; the company is preparing to make a comeback, seeking partnerships with banks and re-engaging with state regulators."
6、Supreme Prosecutor: Crack Down on Illegal Asset Transfers Abroad Using Virtual Currency
At the national prosecutors' meeting held on January 13, it was emphasized that the prosecution will increase efforts to punish money laundering crimes and crack down on illegal asset transfers abroad using virtual currency.
The meeting stressed the need for a strict crackdown on financial crimes. It will severely punish illegal fundraising, loan fraud, financial fraud, market manipulation, and maintain a high-pressure stance against financial crimes involving the public, striving to build a solid financial safety and stability baseline. The role of the prosecutor stationed at the China Securities Regulatory Commission will be leveraged to improve the mechanism for handling securities crime cases and promote the stable and healthy development of the capital market. Collaborative efforts will be made to prevent and resolve financial risks, actively promoting the establishment of a mechanism for the connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice in the financial sector, and strengthening the synergy of risk prevention, regulation, and development. (Interface)
Binance founder Zhao Changpeng shared an article titled "Former Thai Prime Minister Optimistic About Legalization of Cryptocurrency and Online Entertainment" on social media, stating that former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expressed that allowing the trading of stablecoins and other asset-backed tokens "poses no risk." He also urged regulators to legalize online entertainment to increase revenue sources.
ChainCatcher previously reported that according to Cointelegraph, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra stated that allowing the trading of stablecoins and other tangible asset-backed tokens "poses no risk" and urged regulators to legalize online gambling to increase revenue. He pointed out that the Thai government currently loses about $4 billion (100 billion Thai Baht) in online gambling tax revenue each year. The Thai cabinet has approved the draft of the Comprehensive Entertainment Facility Management Act, aimed at legalizing casinos and the gambling industry.
According to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice Southern District, cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has been fined $100 million for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). BitMEX was accused of failing to establish and implement anti-money laundering (AML) and customer identification (KYC) programs, deliberately evading U.S. laws for profit.
Its founders and executives had previously pleaded guilty, and the company pleaded guilty in July 2024, with sentencing set for January 15, 2025, including fines and two years of probation.
9、U.S. SEC Appeals Ripple Case, Requests Appellate Court to Reexamine Relevant Rulings
According to the preliminary brief filed by the SEC, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has appealed the Ripple case, focusing on the ruling regarding whether XRP sales constitute a securities offering. The SEC argues that the lower court made errors in interpreting securities law in part of its ruling and requests the appellate court to reexamine the relevant rulings.
10、VanEck Submits Onchain Economy ETF Application to U.S. SEC
Asset management company VanEck submitted an application for the "Onchain Economy" exchange-traded fund (ETF) to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 15. According to the document, the fund will invest in cryptocurrency companies across the industry, including software developers, mining companies, cryptocurrency exchanges, infrastructure builders, payment companies, and other businesses in the cryptocurrency space.
The asset manager defines these companies as "digital transformation companies" and stated, "The selection of digital transformation companies is based on fundamental analysis, market trends, the company's strategic positioning in the digital asset ecosystem, and valuation." The fund will also invest in digital asset tools such as commodity futures contracts but will not invest directly in digital assets by holding cryptocurrencies.
According to an official announcement, Binance will launch Sonic (S) for wealth management, one-click buy, instant exchange, leverage, and contracts. Binance will launch S 1-75x U-based perpetual contracts on January 16, 2025, at 18:00 (UTC+8).
Cryptocurrency wallet Phantom has completed a $150 million Series C financing at a $3 billion valuation, led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm, with participation from a16z and Variant.
Since its launch in 2021, Phantom has reached 15 million monthly active users, managing $25 billion in self-custodied assets.
According to RootData, Phantom is a user-friendly cryptocurrency wallet that allows users to securely and easily store, buy, send, receive, trade tokens, and collect NFTs on the Solana blockchain.
13、OKX Jumpstart to Launch ANIME (Animecoin) Staking Mining on January 20
The OKX Jumpstart staking mining event will start on January 20, 2025, at 14:00 (Beijing time), allowing OKB and BTC holders to stake OKB and BTC to earn ANIME tokens as rewards. The event will last until January 23 at 14:00.
The total OKB reward pool for this event is 53,333,334 ANIME, and the total BTC reward pool is 26,666,666 ANIME. There is no minimum limit for individual staking, with a maximum staking limit of 600 OKB and 0.3 BTC for BTC staking, supporting staking and unstaking at any time. ANIME tokens are expected to be listed for trading on January 23, with specific timing to be announced later.
14、Gary Gensler Allegedly Posts Farewell: Serving as SEC Chair is a Lifetime Honor
Gary Gensler allegedly posted a farewell on the X platform, stating: "Serving as the Chair of the SEC has been a lifetime honor. Public service is about giving back to our communities, whether it's our neighborhood, county, or state; or as part of this agency, I firmly believe that capital markets, competition, and common-sense rules benefit both investors and issuers, which is why the SEC and its staff play a critical role in overseeing the markets and ensuring compliance with common-sense rules of U.S. securities law:
- We have reduced costs and risks and enhanced the integrity of our two largest markets—nearly $60 trillion in the stock market and $28 trillion in the Treasury market;
- We have helped improve the transparency and integrity of corporate governance for public companies, including implementing new cooling-off periods and other conditions before insiders of companies that may have significant non-public information trade their company's securities;
- We have established rules requiring regulated broker-dealers and investment advisors to notify clients of data breaches that may put personal information at risk;
- We have laid the groundwork for important debates regarding the growing application of artificial intelligence in finance;
- We have updated the rules for the stock and Treasury markets, shortening the settlement cycle;
- We have returned over $2.7 billion to harmed investors.
15、Trump Announces Launch of Personal Meme Coin TRUMP, Theft Possibility Not Ruled Out
Trump announced on his Truth Social account that he will launch a personal meme coin TRUMP, and users need to visit the website with the domain "gettrumpmemes" to obtain the meme, currently not ruling out the possibility of theft, and users should proceed with caution.
16、Data: Trump Group's Two Subsidiaries Own 80% of TRUMP, Subject to 3-Year Unlocking Plan
According to the official content of the "Trump Official Meme Coin" TRUMP, Trump Memes aims to express support and participation in the ideals and beliefs represented by the "$TRUMP" symbol and its related artworks, and is not intended to be an investment opportunity, investment contract, or any type of security. The meme does not involve politics and is unrelated to any political campaign or any political office or government agency.
Notably, Trump's subsidiaries CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC jointly own 80% of TRUMP but are subject to a 3-year unlocking plan. The owners of Fight Fight Fight LLC, CIC Digital LLC, and Celebration Cards LLC will receive transaction revenue generated from TRUMP trading activities.
The Shanghai Municipal Government Office issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Digital Trade and Service Trade," proposing the layout of high-performance computing power infrastructure. This includes building high-energy cloud computing data center clusters, open computing power platforms, and interconnectivity platforms for computing power.
High-quality data infrastructure such as blockchain and corpus will be constructed, along with urban blockchain infrastructure, creating a Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform and universal cross-chain functionality to facilitate the trustworthy cross-border flow of data and promote the high-quality construction of corpus data elements.
Vitalik posted on social media that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) will avoid the following in the future:
- Executing a certain ideological/atmospheric shift
- Actively lobbying regulators and powerful political figures (especially in the U.S., but actually anywhere, especially major powers), risking undermining Ethereum's status as a global neutral platform
- Becoming a battleground for vested interests
- Becoming a highly centralized organization, even more like a "protagonist" in Ethereum
Vitalik emphasized that these things are not what EF does, and that will not change. He welcomes those seeking different visions to create their own organizations.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his support for the discussion regarding "Ethereum-related companies needing to proactively engage with funds, institutions, and nations to encourage them to purchase ETH," stating, "I strongly support engaging with funds, institutions, and nations, and I also support discussions on ETH from an asset perspective. ETH as an asset is an important part of the Ethereum social organism. I do not believe that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) is necessarily the best role to do all of this.
The world is large, and Ethereum is also vast; a more effective approach is to support various local organizations (including large enterprises) around the world, as they have a deeper understanding of their local situations."
20、Trump: "Very Likely" to Grant TikTok a 90-Day Grace Period on Inauguration Day
According to Jin10 citing Xinhua News Agency, U.S. President-elect Trump stated in an interview with NBC on the 18th that he is "very likely" to grant the short video social media platform TikTok a 90-day grace period on the day of his inauguration on the 20th to temporarily avoid a ban in the U.S.
Trump stated that although no final decision has been made, he is considering asking TikTok's parent company ByteDance to extend the deadline for selling TikTok to a non-Chinese company by 90 days. He said this is an option under consideration, "extending it by 90 days is the most likely, as it is appropriate." If he decides to do so, he will announce it on the day of his inauguration on the 20th.
21、OKX to Launch TRUMP (OFFICIAL TRUMP) Spot Trading
According to official news, OKX will launch TRUMP (OFFICIAL TRUMP) spot trading on January 19 at 1:00 PM (UTC+8).
According to Jin10 citing IT Home, after TikTok announced it would suspend services in the U.S., it was found that CapCut, the overseas version under ByteDance, also suspended operations simultaneously.
CapCut's official announcement stated: "We regret to inform you that a law prohibiting the use of CapCut in the U.S. will take effect on January 19, which will force us to temporarily cease services. We are working hard to restore services in the U.S. as soon as possible, thank you for your support. Please stay tuned."
23、Coinbase Adds TRUMP to Listing Roadmap
According to official news, Coinbase has added Official Trump (TRUMP) to its listing roadmap.
24、Binance to Launch TRUMP and Open TRUMP/USDC, TRUMP/USDT Trading Pairs
According to an official announcement, Binance will launch OFFICIALTRUMP (TRUMP) on January 19, 2025, at 16:30 (UTC+8) and open TRUMP/USDC and TRUMP/USDT spot trading pairs. Users can deposit two hours before trading starts, and withdrawals will open on January 20, 2025, at 16:30 (UTC+8). TRUMP will carry a seed label, and users must pass the corresponding quiz and accept the terms of use to trade.
25、TikTok Not Downloadable in U.S. Google Play Store
According to Jin10, TikTok is not downloadable in the U.S. Google Play Store, and the website no longer displays videos.
"What Exciting Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (1.13-1.19)"
1、Understanding the AI Landscape of BNBChain: Breaking Down the AI First Business Philosophy
Last week, the world's largest exchange Binance launched three AI track tokens: AIXBT (Aixbt), CGPT (ChainGPT), and COOKIE (Cookie). Notably, both CGPT and COOKIE come from the BNBChain ecosystem, prompting the crypto community to focus on AI projects within the BNBChain ecosystem.
In 2024, BNBChain proposed the strategic vision of "AI First Chain," aiming to integrate AI into every aspect of business decision-making and ecosystem development, striving to make BNBChain an innovative place for the deep integration of AI and Crypto.
Over the past decade, the internet industry has successfully transitioned from "Web First" to "Mobile First," reshaping the lifestyles and consumption habits of a generation. Today, AI, as the fourth industrial revolution in human history, is reshaping the landscape of human society and business with unprecedented power, driving a migration from the "Mobile First" era to the "AI-First" era.
Kai-Fu Lee once predicted that the technological revolution brought by AI would be ten times greater than that of mobile internet, and all the apps we know today will be reconstructed by AI.
Currently, Solana and Base have produced a large number of AI assets, but the AI track is by no means a zero-sum game. As the AI trend becomes clearer, the entire industry is working together to promote the deep integration and substantial application of AI in the Crypto field, capturing a potential market valued at trillions.
On this long and wide "snow track," the snow is thick, providing a great opportunity for those patient participants who adhere to long-termism to roll a big snowball.
Against this backdrop and judgment, the BNBChain "AI First" development philosophy emerges.
2、Stacks Co-Founder Muneeb Ali: Let Bitcoin L2 Flourish
On January 2, Muneeb Ali, co-founder and CEO of Stacks, a leading Layer 2 network for Bitcoin, changed his X (formerly Twitter) bio from "Founder @Stacks" to "War-Time Founder @Stacks." This change indicates that Ali recognizes 2025 as a critical year for Stacks to shift from technological upgrades in 2024 to market expansion and user growth. Last year, Stacks completed the long-awaited Nakamoto Upgrade, significantly enhancing the project's speed and achieving 100% finality for all transactions on Bitcoin.
Ali believes that this strategic adjustment is particularly important as the crypto market enters a bull market due to Donald Trump's election as president and develops in a more favorable policy environment.
"Changing the bio is a signal to the community that 'we recognize this is a different time, and we need to act faster and more aggressively,'" Ali said in an interview with CoinDesk. "It's not that there won't be product upgrades in 2025, but it can be said that products will no longer be the core focus of work."
Here, Ali shares what different decisions he would make if he could replan the Nakamoto Upgrade; his candid views on the slow progress of the Lightning Network in promoting Bitcoin payments; his expectations for Bitcoin price trends in 2025; and his ultimate goal of bringing a billion people on-chain through Stacks. Additionally, Ali will speak at the Consensus Hong Kong conference in February.
Recently, there has been an increasing amount of news regarding public sales of crypto projects. Notably, these crypto projects have not chosen the early ICO platform Coinlist as their sale platform but have turned to the new generation of ICO platforms like Echo, Legion, and Buidlpad, which have already established influence in overseas crypto communities.
Several well-known crypto projects such as Ethena, Usual, Monad, Initia, MegaETH, Fuel, and Solayer have raised funds through these platforms. Many users from overseas crypto communities have stated that participating in fundraising activities on these emerging ICO platforms has become their primary means of generating returns.
On January 18, the first public sale project Solayer (LAYER) on the ICO platform Buidlpad, created by former Binance executives, concluded its sale, raising a total of $57.3 million, which is 545.24% more than the originally planned $10.5 million.
On January 13, the founder of the Echo platform, Cobie, revealed an interesting phenomenon: some VCs are trying to prevent crypto projects from offering discounts or conducting community sales through platforms like Echo by applying pressure. In response, the ICO platform Legion, incubated by Delphi Labs, expressed resonance and confirmed that there are indeed VCs preventing projects from conducting public sales.
Although VCs are trying to resist crypto projects participating in ICOs, this reflects that these ICO platforms have gained a certain level of influence and have occupied an important position in the minds of crypto projects and communities. For a long time, the crypto community has been troubled by "high valuations, high FDV, and low circulation" of VC coins, but these platforms provide users with early opportunities to participate in projects.
On the same day, Buidlpad stated that due to the overwhelming number of registered users participating in the Solayer public sale, their website's KYC process temporarily crashed, forcing them to postpone the sale time.
All of this seems to indicate that the crypto ICO field is likely to welcome a revival.
4、Public Chain Lego: Connecting Layer 1 and Layer 0 Blockchains, Reshaping Market Landscape
In past cycles, whenever Ethereum faced "performance" dilemmas, "Ethereum killers" would emerge. "Ethereum killers" refer to Layer 1 blockchains, while Ethereum proposed Layer 2 solutions to counter them.
However, since Ethereum completed the Cancun upgrade this year, the narrative volume of Ethereum Layer 2 has surpassed that of Layer 1, even replacing Layer 1 as the mainstream narrative. On one hand, the competitive landscape of Layer 1 remains unchanged; from a market capitalization perspective, (excluding BTC) ETH, BNB, and Solana form a three-way stalemate, with ETH being the dominant player; on the other hand, a question arises: why have we seen almost no new Ethereum killers emerge in this cycle?
Interestingly, Ethereum seems to have fallen into the dilemma of Layer 2 as well. Token Terminal data shows that ETH Layer 1 revenue has plummeted, declining by 99% since March 2024. Meanwhile, in August this year, Multicoin Capital criticized Ethereum Layer 2 on the Bankless program, and subsequently, Ethereum Foundation researchers stated in an AMA that Ethereum is still exploring Layer 1 rather than relying entirely on Layer 2.
The issues that were obscured by the prosperity of Layer 2 have thus begun to surface.
5、Interview with Orderly Co-Founder Ran: From Meme to RWA, Orderly Builds "Taobao of Perpetual Contracts"
"Trade Anything Anywhere" is Orderly's mission.
6、Exclusive Interview with Artela CEO Jerry: Building the First High-Performance Public Chain for Full-Chain AI
Artela Network is the first high-performance public chain supporting full-chain AI. On-chain scalability, elastic block space, parallel execution, and modular architecture make Artela the "chosen" infrastructure for developing decentralized AI agents. Artela enables AI behavior to be highly verifiable and scalable, making a complex, independent, and transparent AI possible.
The community refers to such an AI agent that can live forever across devices as "an indestructible monkey." On January 16, 2025, the Artela mainnet will launch, giving every developer the opportunity to create an "indestructible monkey."
ChainCatcher is honored to invite Jerry, CEO of Artela Network. Jerry has extensive engineering and development experience, having previously served as the former R&D director of Apple China and the former chief architect of Ant Chain. With a career focused on pursuing innovation, he decided to leave Ant in 2022, bringing deep technical experience and insights from the industry to create a new high-performance public chain.
In this interview, we discussed with Jerry the technical details of Artela, the development process of star AI agents on the network, and the prospects and risks of AI agents.
Looking back at the historical patterns of XRP's price movements.
In 2024, Memecoin has become the biggest hotspot in the Crypto world. Its market capitalization skyrocketed from $20 billion in 2023 to over $100 billion in 2024. Memecoin not only solidified its position in the crypto market but also outperformed mainstream cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, becoming the most dazzling asset class of the year.
In this trading frenzy, a large number of "whale players" emerged. They paid hefty fees in Memecoin trading, directly driving the prosperity of public chains like Solana and allowing infrastructure platforms like Raydium, Jito, and Pump.fun to reap substantial profits.
Recently, ChainCatcher collaborated with the Memecoin smart trading platform Tesa and the Memecoin project Evan the Hobo to release the "2024 Memecoin Annual Spending Report." This report deeply analyzes the spending data of Memecoin players with transaction amounts exceeding $1,000 among approximately 4 million user addresses on the Solana chain in 2024, presenting a comprehensive view of Memecoin users' spending behavior and the benefits to various platforms.
9、Xterio TGE Controversy: Many Players Lose Everything, What Happened to the Former Star Project?
"I've never seen a situation where people lose everything." A user named Crow (pseudonym) commented in the Xterio rights protection group.
The Web3 game development and operation platform Xterio was once a star project in the market, attracting many investors with its strong team background and substantial capital support. A user named "Little Person" wrote on X about why he invested in Xterio: "I suddenly remembered why people around us lost an average of $1 million on this project. Half a year ago, when this project announced Binance's investment, I had a meal with someone from Xterio, and then we all FOMO'd into the position. That meal was so expensive; I want to cry."
However, what awaited investors was the harsh reality of widespread losses. On January 8, Xterio launched its token generation event (TGE), and dissatisfaction among investors due to losses continued to rise. As KOLs participating in Xterio kept exposing and showcasing loss data, community discontent surged, and various Xterio rights protection groups began to brew fervently.
Losses, fraud, humiliation… the dream of wealth shattered, and the once-glorious star project seems to have fallen from grace.
TRUMP soared to $20B to become the king of MEME, driven by the certainty of the presidential coin launch, fundamentally different from most MEME coins on the market.
