Author: Deep Tide TechFlow
Yesterday's Market Dynamics
US Initial Jobless Claims for the Week Ending Jan 10: 198K, Expected 215K
According to Jinshi Data, US initial jobless claims for the week ending January 10 were 198,000, compared to an expectation of 215,000. The previous week's figure was revised from 208,000 to 207,000.
Senate Banking Committee Cancels Market Structure Hearing Due to Coinbase Controversy
As reported by EleanorTerrett, the Senate Banking Committee announced the cancellation of a market structure hearing originally scheduled for tomorrow, citing the controversy with Coinbase that occurred today. A new date for the hearing has not yet been set.
CME Group to Launch Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar Futures
CME Group announced it will launch futures for Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and Stellar (XLM) on February 9th, expanding its crypto derivatives product portfolio.
Fogo Announces Airdrop Claim is Open
According to an official announcement, the SVM Layer1 blockchain project Fogo has opened airdrop claims.
X Revokes API Access for "Reward Posting Apps"
According to X product lead and Solana ecosystem advisor Nikita Bier, the X platform is revising its developer policy and will no longer allow applications that reward users for posting on X. Bier stated that such apps have led to a large amount of AI-generated low-quality content and reply spam on the platform. The X platform has revoked the API access for these applications, and user experience is expected to improve soon. For developer accounts whose API access has been terminated, the X platform stated it will assist in transitioning their business to Threads and Bluesky.
Interactive Brokers Launches 24/7 Account Funding with USDC, Plans to Expand Stablecoin Options
According to The Block, traditional brokerage firm Interactive Brokers announced that traders can now use Circle's USDC for 24/7 account funding operations, enabling round-the-clock trading functionality.
The company's CEO, Milan Galik, stated that stablecoins offer a faster, lower-cost, and globally accessible funding option compared to traditional wire transfers. This integration is supported by crypto infrastructure provider Zerohash. Users can send USDC via the Ethereum, Solana, or Base networks, and the system will automatically convert it to US dollars and deposit it into the brokerage account. Interactive Brokers plans to expand support to include more stablecoin options such as Ripple's RLUSD and PayPal's PYUSD as early as next week.
State Street Launches Digital Asset Platform to Expand Crypto Business
According to Bloomberg, global custody banking giant State Street Corporation announced the launch of a digital asset platform aimed at expanding its business in this rapidly growing asset class. A statement from the Boston-based company said the new platform will develop and support money market funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and cash products including tokenized deposits and stablecoins.
MilkyWay Protocol Announces Imminent Permanent Shutdown
According to an official announcement from MilkyWay Protocol, the protocol is shutting down permanently and will begin the liquidation process.
The announcement stated that the decision to close stems from decentralized finance (DeFi) demand not growing as expected, the transient nature of restaking demand, the interruption of plans for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and insufficient funding.
MilkyWay completed a snapshot on January 14th and will automatically distribute protocol fees proportionally to MILK token holders in the form of USDC. All liquid staking functions are disabled effective immediately, and existing positions will be automatically unstaked. MilkyWay initially launched as the first liquid staking token (LST) provider for Celestia, later expanding to the Initia and Babylon ecosystems, and attempted to launch services including restaking, RWA tokenization, and payment cards.
Polygon Lays Off Nearly 30% of Staff, Shifts to Payments Strategy
According to BeInCrypto, Polygon has reduced its workforce by approximately 30%, a move that is part of integration measures following its acquisitions of Coinme and Sequence. The company is shifting from traditional scaling and DeFi narratives to an "open money stack" strategy centered around stablecoin payments. Polygon's CEO confirmed the layoff decision but stated that with the addition of newly acquired teams, the overall headcount is expected to remain stable.
Coingecko Co-founder Responds to Sale Rumors: Regularly Evaluate Strategic Opportunities, Platform Operating Normally
In response to previous reports that crypto data platform CoinGecko was considering a sale at a valuation of approximately $500 million, the company's co-founder and CEO Bobby Ong posted on X, stating that he has received many inquiries about a potential platform sale. Having operated CoinGecko for 12 years, like any growing and profitable company, they regularly evaluate strategic opportunities to strengthen the business and accelerate their mission. He declined to comment on specific acquisition talks for now but expressed excitement about possibilities that could help better serve users and support institutional adoption of cryptocurrency. CoinGecko will continue to operate as usual, with no changes to how they work or provide trusted data.
Bitmine Announces $200 Million Investment in MrBeast's Beast Industries
According to Prnewswire, Bitmine announced a $200 million investment in MrBeast's Beast Industries. The transaction is expected to be completed around January 19th.
Market Dynamics
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