Today's news tips:

The popularity of "RedNote" on Google in the United States has increased, and TikTok users have flocked to Xiaohongshu

The popularity of Xiaohongshu concept Meme coin is rising, and momo’s market value is now reported at 7.29 million US dollars

People familiar with the matter: China is considering selling TikTok's US business to Musk as an option to deal with the ban

Bitcoin spot ETF had a net outflow of US$284 million yesterday, and the net asset ratio reached 5.67%

Japanese listed company Remixpoint buys another 500 million yen in Bitcoin

AIOS Foundation announced the destruction of 66.61% of tokens, and AIOS surged 150% in a short period of time

US Supreme Court rejects Binance and founder CZ’s appeal on securities law applicability

Bitcoin spot ETF had a net outflow of US$284 million yesterday, and the net asset ratio reached 5.67%

Regulatory/Macro

CoinShares cuts Bitcoin ETP management fee to 0.25%

European investment company CoinShares announced that it will reduce the management fee of its flagship product CoinShares Physical Bitcoin ETP (code: BITC; ISIN: GB00BLD4ZL17) from 0.35% to 0.25%, and the new rate will take effect immediately.

Metaplanet: Bitcoin Magazine Japan is online

According to an announcement released by Metaplanet, the company launched a new media platform, Bitcoin Magazine Japan, which aims to guide 1 million Japanese to understand and participate in the Bitcoin ecosystem through high-quality content and community activities. The platform focuses on the three missions of education, inspiration and action, and helps Japan play a key role in the Bitcoin revolution through professional analysis, practical guides and global community connections. Officials emphasize that Bitcoin is not only a digital asset, but also an important tool to promote economic freedom and technological innovation, empowering the Japanese economy.

Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo buys 11 BTC for around 1 million euros

The proprietary trading arm of Italy’s largest banking group, Intesa Sanpaolo, purchased 11 BTC, or about €1 million.

Japanese listed company Remixpoint buys another 500 million yen in Bitcoin

Japanese listed company Remixpoint recently purchased an additional 33.34 bitcoins worth approximately 500 million yen, increasing its bitcoin holdings to 333.189 bitcoins, with a total market value of approximately 4.89 billion yen.

The popularity of "RedNote" on Google in the United States has increased, and TikTok users have flocked to Xiaohongshu

According to Google Trends data, the United States has seen a significant increase in search interest in "China's Xiaohongshu" (translated as "little red book" in English). As the United States cracks down on ByteDance, some TikTok users have begun to turn to Xiaohongshu, jokingly calling themselves "TikTok refugees" and even jokingly saying that they are learning Chinese and plan to "move to China." Xiaohongshu users responded enthusiastically, welcoming American users to join and even asking them for help with their English homework. Data shows that Xiaohongshu (RedNote) has now risen to the top of the free app download rankings in the U.S. Apple AppStore.

People familiar with the matter: China is considering selling TikTok's US business to Musk as an option to deal with the ban

According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, Chinese officials are evaluating a possible plan to sell TikTok's US business to Elon Musk if it fails to prevent the US ban. Although TikTok's parent company ByteDance prefers to block the ban through appeal, the US Supreme Court's hearing indicates that the ban may be upheld. The plan envisions Musk's X (formerly Twitter) taking over TikTok's US business and integrating it with its existing platform. This move will not only increase advertising revenue by leveraging TikTok's 170 million US users, but may also provide rich data support for Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI. However, the transaction needs to be approved by the Chinese government, especially the transfer of TikTok's core algorithm. At present, TikTok's US business is valued at between $40 billion and $50 billion, but it is unclear whether Musk has enough resources to complete the transaction. ByteDance said its primary goal is still to retain TikTok's business in the United States through legal means. Later, the BBC reported that TikTok responded by saying that the report that the "US business will be sold to Musk" was "purely fictitious."

US court asks SEC to explain refusal to enact crypto rules

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should fully explain its decision to refuse to set clear rules for the cryptocurrency industry. The ruling partially supports Coinbase's claims, believing that the SEC's position on crypto assets is "arbitrary and capricious." The ruling occurred in the last week of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's term, which may provide an opportunity for incoming Republican Chairman Paul Atkins to adjust the direction of cryptocurrency regulation. The court emphasized that the SEC needs to make a clear statement rather than continue to avoid rule-making issues, especially in the context of the agency's controversial enforcement-oriented crypto regulatory policy in recent years. Previously, the SEC had suffered consecutive legal setbacks in the Grayscale Bitcoin spot ETF application and Coinbase-related cases. The court considered the SEC's reasons for refusal to be "conclusive and lack of sufficient basis" and warned it not to give "bad explanations" again. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal thanked the court for its prudent ruling.

Trump team studies gradual increase in tariffs, 2%-5% per month

According to foreign media, citing people familiar with the matter, Trump's economic team is discussing a slow month-by-month increase in tariffs. The gradual increase in tariffs is intended to increase bargaining chips while helping to avoid soaring inflation. People familiar with the matter said that one of the ideas is to set a schedule for increasing tariffs by about 2% to 5% per month, and will follow the executive power under the U.S. Emergency Economic Powers Act. The proposal is still in its early stages and has not been submitted to Trump, who has not yet evaluated or approved the idea of gradual tariffs. Advisors involved in the plan include Treasury Secretary candidate Scott Bessant, National Economic Council Director candidate Kevin Hassett, and National Economic Advisory Council Chairman candidate Stephen Milan.

US Supreme Court rejects Binance and founder CZ’s appeal on securities law applicability

According to The Block, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal of cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) to review the lower court's ruling. Previously, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that although Binance has no physical headquarters, U.S. securities laws still apply to the exchange. The case stems from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accusing Binance of illegally providing services to U.S. users since 2023. At the end of 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges and paid a $4.3 billion fine. In the appeal, Binance believed that the case had global implications and involved regulatory applicability issues in the digital asset industry, but the court upheld the original verdict on the grounds that the transaction took place on a U.S. server.

Robinhood fined $45 million by SEC for multiple securities violations

According to an announcement released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Robinhood Securities LLC and Robinhood Financial LLC agreed to pay a total of $45 million in civil penalties for violating more than 10 securities law provisions. Violations include failure to submit suspicious activity reports in a timely manner, failure to implement adequate identity theft protection measures, failure to address known network security vulnerabilities, and failure to properly preserve customer communication records. In addition, Robinhood Securities was separately charged with failing to provide complete securities trading data and failing to comply with Reg SHO rules. These problems occurred between 2019 and 2023. The SEC said the two companies have acknowledged some of the findings and agreed to accept penalties.

Financing

Cross-chain infrastructure SYNTHR has completed $10 million in financing, with NGC Ventures and others participating

The cross-chain infrastructure SYNTHR announced that it has completed five rounds of financing and raised a total of US$10 million, with participation from Kronos, NGC Ventures, Morningstar Ventures and others. In addition, the project has also received 11 grants.

Crypto Bank Sygnum Completes $58 Million Strategic Financing, Valuation Exceeds $1 Billion

Sygnum, a crypto bank headquartered in Switzerland and Singapore, announced the completion of a strategic financing of US$58 million, with a valuation exceeding US$1 billion, officially joining the ranks of unicorns. The financing was led by Fulgur Ventures, which focuses on Bitcoin technology, and new and old investors and team members participated in the financing. The funds will be used to expand the product portfolio (with a focus on Bitcoin technology), enhance compliance capabilities, expand institutional infrastructure, and explore strategic acquisition opportunities. Sygnum plans to strengthen its European business and establish a regulated institution in Hong Kong. The bank currently manages more than US$5 billion in assets and serves more than 2,000 customers from 70 countries. In 2024, Sygnum achieved full-year profitability, with total transaction volume increasing by more than 1,000% year-on-year.

Databricks secures $5 billion in funding to accelerate AI products and international expansion

According to Bloomberg, Databricks, a San Francisco-based data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) company, raised $5 billion in financing through private lenders and banks, including $2.25 billion in term loans and $2.5 billion in revolving credit. The funds will be used for AI product development, international expansion, and employee equity repurchases. The company expects revenue to exceed $3 billion in fiscal 2025 and to achieve positive cash flow in the fourth quarter.

Crypto venture capital investment reaches $4 billion in Q4 2024, with infrastructure projects leading the way

According to The Block, in the fourth quarter of 2024, the total venture capital in the crypto industry reached $4 billion, involving 687 transactions, the highest single-quarter investment in two years. Among them, infrastructure projects attracted $4 billion, dominating capital inflows, followed by financial services ($970 million). Web3 projects had the largest number of transactions, 141, followed by NFT and game projects, with 132 transactions. It is worth noting that decentralized finance (DeFi) projects remained stable, completing 125 transactions. Although the number of infrastructure project transactions (111) is small, it has attracted the most capital. In addition, data analysis (10) and enterprise solutions (18) investments are relatively cautious. A highlight is Echo.xyz, an angel joint investment platform launched by Cobie, which has participated in at least 9 rounds of financing, including helping MegaETH complete $10 million in financing in 3 minutes. This model allows key opinion leaders (KOLs) to create investment consortia, attract followers to invest together, and bring more democratization opportunities to early crypto investments.

Project News

Sony's L2 project Soneium faces community opposition for allegedly blacklisting some Meme coins

According to The Block, Sony's Layer2 project Soneium has sparked community opposition by blacklisting some Meme coins suspected of intellectual property infringement on the mainnet launch day. As a result, some tokens have been restricted, unable to be traded, and unable to be supported on the official block browser. The move has sparked strong dissatisfaction among some users, who have expressed their disappointment in multiple posts on the X platform about the sudden inability to trade or access these Meme coins on the Soneium network. The blacklisting action specifically targets tokens that imitate or use brands that Sony or Soneium considers protected. As a result, it is reported that trading of these Meme coins has been suspended and cannot be transferred. When users try to access these tokens, they will receive a "No Access" warning on the block browser. The situation escalated further with critical remarks from Alon, the anonymous founder of pump.fun, who accused the platform of "actively blacklisting meme coins they don't like, instantly clearing everyone's positions." Kawz, the founder of Time.fun, also claimed that the blacklist affected user funds and accused the platform of freezing contracts. “Soneium caused users to lose over $100,000 in Ethereum on the first day of launch, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Kawz said, adding that two tokens have been frozen. Others questioned the degree of control blockchain developers should exercise and the balance between protecting intellectual property and maintaining a permissionless network.

The popularity of Xiaohongshu concept Meme coin is rising, and momo’s market value is now reported at 7.29 million US dollars

According to @ai_9684xtpa, as TikTok users flock to Xiaohongshu, related concept Meme coins have attracted market attention. The main Xiaohongshu concept Meme coins on the market include: $momo: market value of $7.29 million, inspired by the default account name of Xiaohongshu, symbolizing the platform's privacy and mutual trust culture, and its fans are called the "Momo Army". $Shu Captain: market value of $330,000, named after the official account of Xiaohongshu "Shu Captain", whose sweet potato image has 7.436 million fans on the platform and is called the "Xiaohongshu top streamer". $REDnote: market value of $940,000, derived from the nickname of Xiaohongshu among TikTok's overseas users, and related variant Memes are also popular. *Note: Meme coins fluctuate greatly, please pay attention to fund security, NFA.

Bithumb launches A8 and DRIFT Korean Won trading pairs

According to the Bithumb announcement, the exchange has added support for Ancient8 (A8) and Drift (DRIFT) trading pairs for the Korean won. A8 is based on the Ethereum network; DRIFT is based on the Solana network. Deposits/withdrawals of the two tokens will be open within 2 hours of the announcement, and trading will start at 5 pm (KST) on January 14.

AIOS Foundation announced the destruction of 66.61% of tokens, and AIOS surged 150% in a short period of time

According to the announcement of the AIOS Foundation, the tokens held by the foundation will be destroyed within 24 hours, totaling 66.61% of the total supply (64.03% and 2.58% respectively). In the future, with the launch of the AIOS Chain mainnet, the circulating AIOS on Solana can choose to migrate to AIOSChain. At the same time, AIOSChain will mint native tokens proportional to the amount destroyed and permanently lock them for staking to support the decentralized development of the ecosystem. The news pushed AIOS to surge by more than 150% in a short period of time, and its current market value is about 170 million US dollars.

Sony's Layer-2 blockchain "Soneium" is now live on mainnet

Sony announced the launch of its Layer-2 blockchain platform "Soneium". Developed in collaboration with Singapore's Startale Labs, the platform is based on Ethereum's Optimism OP Stack technology and is designed to support a diverse application ecosystem including gaming, finance and entertainment. After four months of testing, "Soneium" has attracted 14 million wallets to participate, and is committed to connecting Web2 and Web3 users to provide creators and communities with a more convenient blockchain interaction experience. In addition, Sony has launched two key projects: • Fan Marketing Platform: Provided by SNFT Inc., it rewards fans through NFTs and optimizes marketing strategies, helping brands and companies to tap into the value of data. • S.BLOX: A crypto asset trading service provided by S.BLOX Inc. that drives innovation and brand empowerment in the Soneium ecosystem.

Coinbase to List Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) Token

According to the official announcement of Coinbase, it will support the Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) token (SPL) of the Solana network. Trading of PNUT tokens will open at 1:00 am (Beijing time) on January 15, 2025 or later, depending on liquidity conditions. Once the supply is sufficient, the PNUT-USD trading pair will be launched in stages. Note: PNUT only supports Solana network transfers. Transfers on other networks may result in loss of funds, and some jurisdictions may limit support for PNUT.

Viewpoint

Head of Base Protocol: Supporting Chinese developers is one of my top priorities in 2025

Jesse Pollak, head of the Base protocol, tweeted in Chinese: "After posting the tweet that Base belongs to everyone, I received many contacts from Chinese developers and expressed my pride in building with Chinese developers. He emphasized that supporting Chinese developers is one of his top priorities in 2025, and invited everyone to recommend Chinese developers worthy of attention."

Star: Crypto and AI will become the two industries with the best business technology development in the next decade

On January 14, 2025, the OKX "OKX New Year's Eve Dinner" event in Da Nang, Vietnam, officially opened. OKX CEO Star attended the event via video link and delivered an impromptu speech. Star said that the crypto industry is a cycle-driven, innovative and vibrant industry with global regulatory support. Crypto and AI will become the two industries with the best business technology development in the world in the next decade. It is reported that the "OKX New Year's Eve Dinner" is a special event for industry builders held by OKX in Da Nang, Vietnam. The event revolves around core topics such as OKX's latest product planning, industry hot spot analysis, and experience sharing. It is committed to providing a platform for in-depth communication and collision of ideas for global cryptocurrency enthusiasts to welcome the New Year together.

Foreign media: Trump is expected to issue an executive order to abolish controversial cryptocurrency accounting policies

According to The Washington Post, Trump is expected to issue an executive order on the first day of his presidency regarding debanking and repealing a controversial cryptocurrency accounting policy that requires banks holding digital assets to treat them as liabilities.

Important data

Bitcoin spot ETF had a net outflow of US$284 million yesterday, and the net asset ratio reached 5.67%

According to SoSoValue data, Bitcoin spot ETFs had a total net outflow of $284 million yesterday. Among them, Grayscale ETF GBTC had a net outflow of $89.0084 million, with a cumulative historical net outflow of $21.656 billion; Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF BTC had no net outflow, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $924 million. BlackRock ETF IBIT had a net inflow of $29.4646 million in a single day, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $37.696 billion. As of now, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $105.046 billion, accounting for 5.67% of the total market value of Bitcoin, with a cumulative historical net inflow of $35.932 billion.

FTX/Alameda redeemed and transferred out SOL again, with a total transfer of over 4.44 million SOL

According to the on-chain data monitored by Ember, FTX/Alameda completed its monthly SOL redemption operation 3 hours ago, redeeming 182,421 SOL (about 32.35 million US dollars) from the pledge and distributing it to 20 addresses. Since November last year, the pledge address has redeemed and transferred out a total of 4.445 million SOL (about 516.88 million US dollars), with an average transfer price of 116.2 US dollars per coin. At present, FTX/Alameda's pledge address still has 6.47 million SOL (about 1.18 billion US dollars) in the pledged state.