ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, data from Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter shows that over 30% of Ethereum validators have expressed support for raising the block Gas limit.Currently, the Ethereum Gas limit is 30 million, with plans to increase it to 40 million units. Validators can indicate their support for the increase by modifying their node configurations, without the need for a hard fork. Once the support rate exceeds 50%, the block Gas limit will automatically adjust to the new level.Last year, the "Pump the Gas" initiative, launched by Ethereum developer Eric Connor and former MakerDAO smart contract lead Mariano Conti, aimed to raise community awareness of the importance of the Gas limit. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also supports increasing the Gas limit by 33%.

ChainCatcher news, according to South Korean media NAVER, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea issued a business suspension notice to Upbit, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, on January 9. The main reason is the violation of anti-money laundering obligations regarding customer identity verification (KYC) under the Specific Financial Transaction Information Act. The FIU found approximately 700,000 cases of improper KYC execution during its inspection, as well as violations related to business dealings with unregistered overseas virtual asset service providers.Once the penalties are confirmed, Upbit will be restricted from new user-related operations for up to 6 months. Upbit currently holds over 70% of the South Korean cryptocurrency trading market, and this penalty may affect its business license renewal review. The FIU will hold a sanctions committee meeting on January 21 to determine the final details of the penalties.

ChainCatcher news, QCP Capital's latest analysis points out that due to the U.S. CPI data being lower than expected, Bitcoin surged by 4.13% to a high of $100,800. In terms of spot ETFs, Bitcoin ETFs saw a net inflow of $723.2 million in a single day, indicating strong institutional demand.In the options market, traders are heavily buying call options with strike prices between $100,000 and $110,000 expiring in January, while the highest open interest is for $120,000 options expiring in March.As Bitcoin's market cap share drops from 58.6% to 57.4%, QCP Capital expects that if it falls below the support level of 57.3% and Bitcoin remains around $100,000, it may trigger an altcoin season, with funds potentially rotating from Bitcoin to other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum.

ChainCatcher news, according to official information, the Sui mainnet has been upgraded to version V1.40.3, and the protocol has been upgraded to version 71. Key points of this upgrade include: changes to metrics and protocol configuration, addition of the multiGetObjects top-level query, and the addition of the build_mainnet function to SuiClientBuilder.

ChainCatcher message, Bitcoin stablecoin issuer Avalon Labs adds support for uniBTC assets. Users can use it as collateral to borrow other assets or recycle uniBTC for leveraged re-staking.

ChainCatcher news, Zhuhai Huafa Group has issued 1.4 billion yuan digital bonds in Hong Kong through the HSBC Orion digital asset platform. This is the first Chinese digital bond issued in Hong Kong, with an interest rate of 4.5% and a term of three years.The bond is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Macau MOX, and provides access to international investors through the HKEX southbound trading and Euroclear/Clearstream. This issuance aims to promote the internationalization of the renminbi and develop the offshore renminbi market. HSBC serves multiple roles, including global co-coordinator and digital platform provider.

ChainCatcher news, Jupiter official posted on X that the airdrop claim will open next week. Users need to create a personal profile page in advance, which will later become the central hub for users to handle any matters related to Jupiter, from airdrop claims to future product releases and other community plans.

ChainCatcher news, the blockchain associations from eight states in the United States have announced the establishment of the North American Blockchain Association (NABA), which aims to provide cohesive cryptocurrency policy recommendations to the federal government.Members include the Texas Blockchain Council, Alabama Blockchain Alliance, California Blockchain Advocacy Coalition, Florida Blockchain Business Association, Ohio Blockchain Council, Pennsylvania Blockchain Alliance, Virginia Blockchain Council, and the Washington Technology Industry Association Cascadia Blockchain Council.Lee Bratcher, Chairman of the Texas Blockchain Council and a board member of NABA, stated that each state association is independent and retains its agency, but can collaborate with other states when necessary.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, with the release of CPI and PPI data this week, economists can now predict the crucial core PCE inflation data for December very accurately------the Fed's preferred inflation indicator.Predictions coming in this morning indicate that the core PCE price increase in December will be below 0.2%: early forecasts range from Morgan Stanley's 0.16% to Pantheon Macroeconomics' 0.19%. These figures will keep the core PCE inflation annual rate at 2.8%, unchanged from November. However, the trends for 3-month and 6-month will move in the right direction.Analyst Sam Tombs from Pantheon Macroeconomics stated, "We still believe that core PCE inflation will decline slightly over the next two months, which supports the FOMC's easing policy at the end of March."

ChainCatcher news, the Solana ecosystem decentralized exchange Jupiter announced on the X platform that the JUPuary airdrop checker is now live.ChainCatcher previously reported that the Jupiter community in the Solana ecosystem passed a new round of airdrop proposal with an 87% support rate, which will distribute a total of 700 million JUP tokens each year for the next two years, amounting to a total of 1.4 billion dollars. This proposal includes several adjustments to the original plan, such as allocating unclaimed JUP tokens to the ASR (staking rewards) pool, prioritizing stakers, and strengthening anti-bot measures.

ChainCatcher news, Web3 market maker DWF Labs announced that it will provide strategic support for teams launching AI agents on the NEAR protocol.DWF Labs pointed out that NEAR is currently the only blockchain ecosystem that offers comprehensive resources for autonomous AI developers.Additionally, as part of its collaboration with NEAR ecosystem builders, DWF Labs will also work closely with DeFi protocols on NEAR to promote the launch of AI agents focused on the financial sector.

ChainCatcher news, according to the WeChat official account of the China Red Cross Foundation, the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has donated $681,970.08 (approximately 5 million RMB) to the Shigatse region of Tibet through the China Red Cross Foundation, to support rescue efforts in the Dingri County earthquake disaster area following the 6.8 magnitude earthquake. The funds will be specifically used to provide disaster relief supplies and support post-disaster reconstruction, helping the affected people get through the difficulties and rebuild their homes.

ChainCatcher news, according to Trader T's monitoring, the U.S. stock market's cryptocurrency sector is up before the market opens today:MICROSTRATEGY: +0.36%ISHARES BITCOIN TRUST: +0.6%COINBASE GLOBAL: +0.2%RIOT PLATFORMS: +0.6%CLEANSPARK: +0.1%MARA HOLDINGS: +0.5%

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, BNB Chain has announced the launch of the fifth phase of the TVL incentive program, which will provide up to 5% of the newly added TVL in BNB staking support for the top five staking or restaking protocols, with a maximum support limit of 20,000 BNB per project. At the same time, the restaking protocol KernelDAO, managing assets worth $2 billion, announced the establishment of a $40 million ecological fund to support the development of the BNB Chain ecosystem.The incentive program will run from January 21, 2025, to February 21, 2025, with a total staking support cap of 50,000 BNB and a lock-up period of 1 to 3 months. The BNB Chain Foundation will return staking rewards to the community through market activities or airdrops. KernelDAO additionally commits to allocating 5% of its token supply for ecological development funding. Marwan Kawadri, head of BNB Chain EMEA, stated that the program aims to promote BNB Chain as a multi-network interconnected ecosystem and accelerate the large-scale adoption of Web3.

ChainCatcher message, Starknet announced on the X platform that it has partnered with the RaaS provider AltLayer, aiming to enable builders to complete SN Rollup deployments and independently build optimized Starknet.

ChainCatcher message, according to official news, the OKX Web3 wallet has now opened the DuckChain airdrop address binding and will soon support airdrop claims. Users can connect through the Telegram-based OKX Mini wallet and the OKX Web3 wallet app to bind the TON address required for the DuckChain airdrop.DuckChain is the first EVM-compatible consumer layer in the TON ecosystem, helping users connect TON with EVM, BTC, and other public chain ecosystems. The OKX Web3 wallet is an industry-leading one-stop Web3 entry point, now supporting over 100 popular public chains, unified across App, plugin, web, and Telegram.

ChainCatcher message, Virtuals Protocol announces an update to the value accumulation mechanism to better support builders of the Virtuals ecosystem. The post-bonding tax will be allocated as follows: 30% to agent creators, 20% to agent affiliates, and 50% to agent subDAOs for future governance decisions.Rewards for creators will be directly deposited into the agent deployer's wallet. The introduction of the agent affiliate program aims to coordinate the incentive mechanisms between trading platforms/interfaces (such as Telegram bots) and the Virtuals ecosystem. Once they become agent affiliates, these platforms will receive 20% of the post-bonding tax generated from the transactions they facilitate, which can be used for community incentives or other programs.

ChainCatcher news, QCP Capital's latest analysis points out that with only one week left until Trump takes office as the 47th President of the United States, concerns about inflation continue in the market. The U.S. job market remains strong, with last week's non-farm payroll data exceeding expectations (256,000 vs. expected 165,000), and U.S. Treasury yields are rising, with the market only expecting two rate cuts in 2025-2026.From recent developments, the macroeconomic environment is not friendly to risk assets. However, one bright spot is that Trump's actual policies often differ significantly from his public statements. Concerns about inflation may not be as severe as the market expects. For cryptocurrencies, there are individuals in Trump's administration who support them. There are rumors that Trump will issue a broad and crypto-friendly executive order, which could provide support for short-term prices.Market volatility is expected to increase around the inauguration, as the market needs to digest and adapt to Trump's new term. QCP Capital remains cautious about downside risks, as the $90,000 level for Bitcoin has been tested multiple times. The stock market also appears fragile, and with rising global bond yields, it may trigger chaotic and gap-driven market movements.

ChainCatcher news, IOST announced that its rebranding proposal has been approved by community voting. According to the new plan, the total supply of IOST will increase from 21.32 billion to 42.64 billion over the next 60 months, with 97% of the new supply allocated to the community.The circulating supply will increase by 2.22%, or 474 million IOST, one month after the rebranding is completed.