Weekly Report | Melania Trump, wife of Donald Trump, announces the launch of her personal meme coin $MELANIA; SEC Chairman Gary Gensler officially resigns, Mark Uyeda appointed as acting chairman
Binance adds TRUMP as a lending asset; Bank of Japan raises interest rates by 25 basis points; Grayscale submits 19b-4 application for Solana spot ETF to the SEC.Organizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened This Week (1.20-1.26)"
1、Melania Trump Announces Launch of Personal Meme Coin $MELANIA
Trump's wife announced on her personal Twitter account that she will launch her personal meme coin $MELANIA, and users need to visit the website with the domain "Melaniameme.com" to obtain the meme. Subsequently, Trump's Truth Social account retweeted Melania Trump's Memecoin release post.
2、Curve Founder: Extended Lock-up Period for All veCRV Holdings to 4 Years
Curve founder Michael Egorov stated on the X platform that he has extended the lock-up period for all his veCRV holdings to 4 years to demonstrate confidence in the long-term development of the project. He also publicly disclosed a specific transaction record for the extended lock-up.
3、Biden Welcomes Trump to the White House
According to Jinshi reports, Biden welcomed Trump to the White House.
Ethereum Foundation staff hww.eth (@icebearhww) announced on social media that the Ethereum Foundation has established a new 3-of-5 multi-signature wallet and allocated 50,000 ETH. The Ethereum Foundation will use this new wallet to participate in the DeFi ecosystem and has already conducted test transactions on Aave.
5、SEC Chair Gary Gensler Officially Resigns, Mark Uyeda Appointed Acting Chair
Gary Gensler, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has officially resigned.
According to new appointment documents released by the White House, Mark Uyeda has been appointed as the Acting Chair of the SEC.
Uyeda is a Republican member and has served as an SEC commissioner since June 30, 2022. Before becoming an SEC commissioner, Uyeda worked at the SEC for over 15 years. FOX Business previously reported that Mark Uyeda hopes to help Trump fulfill his promise to end the Biden administration's so-called "cryptocurrency war."
6、SEC Establishes Cryptocurrency Working Group to Develop Regulatory Framework
According to official news, Mark Uyeda, Acting Chair of the SEC, has established a special working group for cryptocurrency, "dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrency assets."
Commissioner Hester Peirce will lead the working group. The focus of the group will be to help the commission delineate clear regulatory boundaries, provide practical registration pathways, establish reasonable disclosure frameworks, and wisely deploy enforcement resources. Senior advisors Richard Gabbert and Taylor Asher will serve as the chief of staff and chief policy advisor for the working group, respectively.
7、Binance Adds TRUMP as a Lending Asset
According to an official announcement, Binance has added OFFICIALTRUMP (TRUMP) as a lending asset for BinanceLoans (flexible rate) and VIPLoan.
8、Justin Sun: If I Lead the Ethereum Foundation, ETH Will Reach $10,000
Justin Sun stated on X that if the Ethereum Foundation and Ethereum are under his leadership, ETH will rise to $10,000.
The plan for the first week is:
1) Immediately stop ETH sales for at least three years, covering operational costs through AAVE lending, staking rewards, and stablecoin lending;
2) Impose heavy taxes on all Layer 2 projects to ensure at least $5 billion in annual tax revenue for repurchasing and burning ETH;
3) Streamline the Ethereum Foundation's personnel structure and increase salaries for retained employees;
4) Reduce node rewards and strengthen the fee-burning mechanism. Justin Sun stated that through these measures, ETH is expected to break through $4,500 within the first week.
According to market news, the CEO of Saudi Kingdom Holding Company stated, "We are currently not considering investing in cryptocurrency."
It is reported that Saudi Kingdom Holding Company is led by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and ranked second among the top 100 companies in Saudi Arabia in 2002, while ranking first among private enterprises.
Blockchain analysis platform bitsCrunch has launched a $5 million ecosystem grant program to support Web3 developers with funding, API credits, and token-based assistance.
The total $5 million funding pool is divided into different categories to meet various needs within the community. A $3 million investment pool is held in collaboration with recognized industry partners, while $1.5 million is reserved for API credits, allowing participants direct access to bitsCrunch's data infrastructure.
11、Bubblemaps: AINTI Has Insider Trading, Insiders Still Hold 71% of Supply
According to Bubblemaps, the account of the late entrepreneur and cryptocurrency enthusiast John McAfee on Solana published its own AI version of the meme coin AINTI, which has seen significant insider trading. Before its release, 90% of AINTI's supply was sent to multiple addresses, and over $1.5 million has been sold off.
Bubblemaps added that on January 7, the AINTI token deployer began distributing 60% of AINTI to 218 addresses, continuing until the release, with a total of 287 addresses receiving 90% of the supply. Once launched, 60 addresses sold off at a price of $1.5 million. Other insiders still hold 71% of the supply.
12、Trump: America Will Become the World Capital of AI and Cryptocurrency
U.S. President Trump mentioned cryptocurrency in a speech, stating that America will become the world capital of AI and cryptocurrency.
Trump signed an executive order establishing a Presidential Digital Asset Market Working Group, tasked with developing a federal regulatory framework for managing digital assets (including stablecoins) and assessing the creation of a strategic national digital asset reserve. The working group will be chaired by the White House's "AI and Cryptocurrency Czar" David Sacks, with members including the Secretary of the Treasury, the SEC Chair, and heads of other relevant departments and agencies. The executive order directs departments to propose recommendations to the working group regarding any regulations and other agency actions affecting the digital asset sector that should be rescinded or modified.
Additionally, the executive order prohibits agencies from taking any action to establish, issue, or promote central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The order also rescinds the previous administration's "Digital Asset Executive Order" and the Treasury's "Framework for International Participation in Digital Assets," stating that these two executive orders stifled innovation and harmed America's economic freedom and global leadership in digital finance.
Previously, U.S. President Trump stated that he was signing executive orders related to AI and cryptocurrency.
14、Fraudsters Exploit Trump TRUMP Token Hype, Stealing Over $857 Million
According to Beincrypto, fraudsters exploited the hype surrounding the TRUMP token issued by Trump last week, sending fake coins to wallets associated with the TRUMP team and its creators, leading cryptocurrency traders closely monitoring these wallets to mistakenly purchase these worthless tokens. They believed that the Trump meme coin team intended to buy these tokens and had insider information. The fraudsters anticipated this behavior and profited from it.
According to Global Ledger data, four fraudulent tokens related to Trump have generated at least $857.5 million in revenue. These tokens—JMilei, MELON, WTRUMP, and PUTIN—have been cashed out on several major exchanges. Further investigation revealed that the tokens PUTIN, KING, and BUFFET are associated with the same deposit wallet on Binance. These wallets have collectively withdrawn $91.3 million. This pattern suggests that the same entity or group may have created and cashed out these tokens.
15、Bank of Japan Raises Interest Rates by 25 Basis Points
The Bank of Japan raised interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, increasing the target rate from 0.25% to 0.50%, marking the largest hike since 2007 and the highest rate since October 2008. Since restarting rate hikes in March last year, the Bank of Japan has raised rates three times in less than 12 months.
Christine Kim, Vice President of Galaxy Research, summarized the 149th Ethereum Core Developer Consensus (ACDC) conference call.
This week, developers discussed new vulnerabilities found on Pectra Devnet 5 and agreed to launch another development network before upgrading the public testnet; they established a tentative timeline for activating Pectra on the mainnet, requiring client teams to release updated software by February 3 to activate Pectra on the Sepolia and Holesky testnets on February 12 and February 19, respectively; additionally, developers plan to release the final Pectra software on March 11, 2025, for the mainnet upgrade.
According to official regulatory documents, CoinShares submitted registration statements for the "CoinShares Litecoin ETF" and "CoinShares XRP ETF" on Friday.
Additionally, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) submitted a 19b-4 filing on behalf of Grayscale for the "Grayscale Litecoin Trust" and a 19b-4 filing for the Grayscale Solana Trust, both of Grayscale's filings include terms regarding converting the trusts into spot ETFs.
18、Nasdaq Applies to Modify BlackRock Bitcoin ETF to Allow Physical Redemption
On Friday, Nasdaq submitted a modified rule filing on behalf of BlackRock to allow the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust to conduct physical redemptions (in-kind redemption). Typically, when investors want to sell an ETF, they receive redemption payments in cash. Physical redemption means that investors can choose to redeem using the underlying assets (i.e., Bitcoin) that the ETF is invested in.
For a year before the SEC approves a spot Bitcoin ETF, companies have been discussing the specific technical details of how such products will be redeemed. The SEC tends to favor cash redemptions, meaning that when investors want to redeem their Bitcoin ETF shares, the fund management company (such as BlackRock) must first sell the held Bitcoin and then return the cash obtained from the sale to the investors.
19、Grayscale Submits 19b-4 Application for Solana Spot ETF to SEC
Grayscale submitted a 19b-4 application for a Solana spot ETF to the SEC on Friday.
X user @sevecencix stated, "Everyone shouldn't issue cryptocurrency based on their own ideas; I think they have messed up this business."
In response, Zhao Changpeng replied, "In a decentralized world, we should focus on self-control. Anyone can issue. But 'I' don't have to buy them."
"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (1.20-1.26)"
1、Balaji Srinivasan: 17 Thoughts on the First Crypto President
If Trump airdrops TRUMP to American voters, it could generate political support and change the traditional political interest structure, even providing him an opportunity to dismantle his opponents' political machinery.
What new crypto policies are expected? Betting situation on Polymarket.
3、A Comprehensive Analysis of the Decentralized AI Network Bittensor
Bittensor is a decentralized network aimed at forming an intelligent market that allows high-quality AI models to be developed in a decentralized manner. By leveraging incentive mechanisms and rewarding participants for providing computing resources, expertise, and innovative contributions, Bittensor has established an open-source AI capability ecosystem, where the native currency TAO serves both as a reward token and a credential for accessing the network.
4、What Positive Actions Has Trump Taken for the Crypto Circle Since Taking Office?
Appointing SEC Acting Chair Uyeda, Elon Musk's government efficiency department DOGE changing the Dogecoin logo, investing $500 billion in AI, and exonerating Silk Road founder Ross, who was sentenced to life imprisonment.
5、Three Trillion-Dollar Investment Themes: Energy, Computing, and Cryptocurrency
Meltem Demirors, founding partner of Crucible Capital and former CSO of CoinShares, discusses how energy, computing, and cryptocurrency serve as the three pillars of the modern economy, driving the development of capital markets together.
6、Decoding the Platform Token Track: How Can WXT Replicate the Hundredfold Miracles of BNB and BGB?
Value capture ability + growth potential = platform token's upward space
7、Behind Trump's Epic Token Launch, Who Are the Primary "Beneficiaries" and Potential "Operators"?
Although Trump claims to "not know much" about his namesake meme coin TRUMP, the entire crypto layout of the Trump family undoubtedly has powerful "operators."
The seemingly casual launch of the TRUMP coin is actually the result of clear cooperation with several projects such as Moonshot and Jupiter/Meteora, which are the biggest beneficiaries behind Trump's epic token launch besides Solana.
For example, Moonshot, which supports fiat purchases of memes, quickly added 400,000 users, becoming a strong new challenger to CEX. Meteora, from the same team as Jupiter, is the fastest-growing project in the Solana ecosystem benefiting from Trump's token launch… As a carefully selected partner of Trump, they deserve long-term attention.
8、How Does GMGN Become the Beneficiary of TRUMP's "Enormous Wealth"?
The official meme token TRUMP's emergence is undoubtedly one of the most sensational and wealth-legendary events in the Web3 field recently. The token's market cap once soared to $80 billion, greatly stirring the liquidity of other meme coins in the market and reigniting enthusiasm for on-chain memes, attracting widespread attention from investors.
In this grand wave of meme coins, some emerging exchanges have stood out with their unique advantages compared to "old" exchanges, among which the GMGN platform has performed particularly brilliantly in the vertical crypto field of memecoins. So, how did GMGN break through in this red ocean market? Its secret lies in its deep understanding and practice of the three principles of "fast, accurate, and stable."
9、"Celebrity X Account Token Fraud Frequent, Is Celebrity Meme Coin Speculation Coming to an End?
On January 24, Binance announced the launch of the new MEME coin VINE's contract, with VINE's price rising over 100% in 24 hours. This is another representative of celebrity meme coins quickly launched on exchanges following the Trump family's meme.
Since Trump issued the meme coin TRUMP named after himself on January 18, its market cap rapidly climbed to nearly $80 billion within two days. Meanwhile, the meme coin MEANIA, named after his wife, also briefly surpassed $5 billion in market cap, and even the meme coin "BARRON," named after his youngest son, saw its total market cap sharply rise to about $400 million.
The astonishing price increases of this series of MEME coins not only made the Trump family a fortune but also created a number of millionaires and even billionaires overnight due to their purchases of these memes, with users constantly showcasing their huge profits from meme coin purchases on X every day. This has left investors who missed out on the TRUMP coin feeling regretful, hoping to quickly capture the next hundredfold celebrity meme coin to make up for previous losses.
Faced with such enormous economic benefits, celebrity-issued MEME coins are becoming a new hot topic in the market, with dozens of celebrity meme coins flying around on various social media platforms every day, making it hard for users to distinguish between the real and the fake.
Looking to the future, continuing to focus on and support truly valuable and potential projects while avoiding blind following is a core mindset that every industry practitioner needs to maintain.
