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📍 Former US Congressman Patrick McHenry joins Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) as a senior advisor, aiming to help innovators navigate policy landscapes and promote crypto-friendly regulations. 📍 PayPal sets ambitious goals for its PYUSD stablecoin, targeting 20 million merchants by the end of 2025, and plans to integrate it with existing lines of business, including cross-border payments and bill-pay products. 📍 Hackers are spreading malware through fake GitHub repositories, targeting software developers and stealing sensitive information, including crypto wallet data, with Kaspersky warning of the need for vigilance when handling third-party code. 📍 Gold-backed cryptocurrencies, such as PAXG and XAUT, outperform the broader crypto market as gold ETF inflows near a three-year high, driven by geopolitical tensions and uncertainty surrounding tariffs. 📍 Gold prices surge nearly 11% in 2025 and 43% over the past year, with physically-backed gold ETFs experiencing their largest weekly inflow since March 2022, reaching 52.4 tons, valued at approximately $4.9 billion.

📍 Microsoft's stock price dipped 1.8% after a report revealed the tech giant canceled leases on two US data centers, potentially due to an oversupply position. 📍 US law enforcement seized $31 million in cryptocurrency tied to the 2021 hack of Uranium Finance, a decentralized finance platform that was exploited for approximately $50 million. 📍 The crypto market experienced a significant downturn, with Bitcoin and Ethereum liquidations surging to $686 million in 24 hours, while Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin plummeted by 12%, 9%, and 11% respectively. 📍 Ethereum's Pectra upgrade was activated on the Holesky testnet but failed to finalize, prompting an investigation by developers, with the upgrade aiming to improve user experience and increase staking limits. 📍 The global crypto market's downturn may be linked to OKX's guilty plea to charges from the Department of Justice for illegally serving US customers, resulting in over $500 million in penalties and forfeiture.

📍 Crypto gaming chain Sonic SVM launched its SONIC token on Solana, reaching a $443 million market cap before falling to $277 million, with over 2 million players from its TikTok tap-to-earn game. 📍 Meme coin 360noscope420blazeit (MLG) surged 5,200% in six days, driven by Call of Duty-themed nostalgia and support from esports team FaZe Clan, reaching a peak market cap of $177 million. 📍 Ethereum hero shooter The Machines Arena is coming to Steam and PS5, but with limited or no crypto features due to platform restrictions, while other gaming projects like Illuvium and Pixels are introducing AI agents and staking features. 📍 Multiple publicly traded companies, including Tesla, Block, and Rumble, are stockpiling Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, following MicroStrategy's successful crypto-first business strategy. 📍 Companies like Semler Scientific and Banzai are also investing in Bitcoin, with plans to continue purchasing the cryptocurrency and exploring additional financing opportunities to acquire more.

📍 The average realized price of Bitcoin for 2024 buyers was $65,901, resulting in an average unrealized profit of 40% by the end of the year. 📍 Rep. Mike Johnson, a supporter of the crypto industry, has been re-elected as House Speaker, potentially paving the way for crypto-friendly legislation in 2025, alongside Majority Whip Tom Emmer. 📍 Solana developers have created a quantum-resistant vault, called Solana Winternitz Vault, to protect users' funds from potential quantum computer attacks by generating new keys for each transaction using a hash-based signature system. 📍 The FDIC has discouraged American banks from using public blockchains like Ethereum, citing concerns over the decentralized and permissionless nature of these networks, and has ordered member banks to halt or submit to review certain crypto-related activities. 📍 The average cost basis for Bitcoin buyers entering 2025 is around $95,500, indicating a slight profit as the year begins, with the realized price offering a potential support level for Bitcoin in bear markets.

📍 SPX6900, a memecoin, has reached a record high market capitalization of $1.25 billion, breaking its previous high of $0.90 in November, as its community promotes holding tokens rather than selling. 📍 In contrast, AI Agent projects such as Virtuals and ai16z have fallen by 8% on average, amid criticism of their claimed AI models, highlighting the volatility of the crypto market. 📍 Edith Yeung, a venture capitalist and early investor in Solana, predicts that Hong Kong will become a major crypto hub in 2025, with a focus on building liquidity and attracting institutional investors, and also forecasts the establishment of a US Bitcoin Reserve by the end of 2025. 📍 Telegram has announced a new feature allowing users to convert digital gifts into tradable TON NFTs, further integrating the messaging app into the Web3 ecosystem and expanding the use cases for its native token, Toncoin. 📍 Bitcoin mining difficulty has reached a new all-time high, making the network more secure than ever, 16 years after the first Bitcoin block was mined, demonstrating the durability and increasing computational power required to maintain the blockchain.

📍 BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) saw record-high outflows of $333 million on Jan. 2, mainly due to profit-taking by investors in early 2025. 📍 Chinese automotive transaction service platform Cango has entered the bitcoin mining industry, purchasing 50 EH/s worth of mining power for $400 million and becoming one of the largest miners in the world. 📍 A 21-year-old man, Berman Jerry Nowlin, died by apparent suicide after being convicted of his role in a $400,000 NFT "rug pull" scheme involving wire fraud and money laundering. 📍 Cardano (ADA) led the CoinDesk 20 Index higher, gaining 12%, while Internet Computer (ICP) also saw significant gains, rising 10.6%, with 19 out of 20 assets trading higher.

📍 Cardano's ADA token has surged 12% in the past 24 hours, crossing the $1 mark, with price-chart analysis suggesting potential gains of up to 30% ahead. 📍 Do Kwon, founder of the failed Terra Luna crypto ecosystem, has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud following his extradition to the US, with federal prosecutors alleging he misled investors about the algorithm maintaining the stablecoin's peg to the dollar. 📍 Bitcoin's hashrate has increased by approximately 50% in 2024 and is on track to reach 1 zettahash per second before the next halving event in about 3.5 years, putting pressure on miners to secure cheap power deals and more efficient equipment. 📍 Ether's estimated leverage ratio has climbed to a new high of 0.57, significantly higher than that of Bitcoin, indicating a surge in risk-taking and market speculation, and potentially leading to increased price volatility. 📍 A post from GameStop bull Roaring Kitty has pumped Unity Software shares and a Unity-inspired meme coin on the Solana blockchain, with the meme coin gaining over 200% in the last 24 hours, demonstrating the significant influence of social media on financial markets.

📍 Bitcoin's "shooting star" candlestick pattern suggests sellers are reasserting themselves, potentially leading to a notable price drop ahead, with December's low of $91,186 being the level to defend for bulls. 📍 BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, recorded its largest outflow of $332 million, exceeding the previous record of $188 million, which may indicate a lack of confidence in the ETF's strategy or investors rebalancing their portfolios. 📍 AI agent tokens, meme coins, and protocols are surging, with some tokens like AI16z rising 176% to a market cap over $2.2 billion, driving speculation that AI could be the latest "meta" for crypto traders, although some analysts remain unconvinced.

📍 Hamster Kombat, a popular Telegram game, is expanding into a full-fledged "HamsterVerse" with its native HMSTR token and ambitious Season 2 plans. 📍 The project's DAO community has voted to build a Hamster L2 blockchain on the TON network, providing a technological foundation for the web3 community. 📍 Meanwhile, a collaborative effort between Tether, Tron, and TRM Labs has successfully frozen over $126 million in USDT linked to crypto-related financial crimes.

📍 MicroStrategy's shares have plummeted 45% since November despite the company's massive Bitcoin purchases, with investors no longer willing to prop up the stock price. 📍 MicroStrategy's valuation has ballooned past its $43 billion Bitcoin holdings, with a market capitalization of $73.2 billion, and investors are paying a premium for Bitcoin exposure through the company's stock. 📍 Meanwhile, AI-powered influencer Aixbt has surged in popularity on X, accumulating nearly 300,000 followers and sending its affiliated meme coin to a market capitalization above $500 million, despite concerns about its autonomy and trustworthiness. 📍 Aixbt's growing popularity has led to endorsements from key industry personalities, particularly within the Bitcoin ecosystem, and its token has utility value, offering access to a market intelligence platform for holders who accumulate massive sums of the coin. 📍 However, Aixbt's capabilities have been questioned, with some dismissing it as a "chatbot with a meme coin attached" that relies on tracking narratives rather than analyzing underlying code or data.