Author: Shenchao TechFlow

Yesterday's Market Dynamics

Fed Mouthpiece: Fed Expected to Pause Rate Cuts, Path to Resuming Cuts Remains Unclear

According to Jinshi Data, "Fed mouthpiece" Nick Timiraos: Fed officials are expected to hold rates steady this week for the first time since the three consecutive cuts starting last September. The question is, what circumstances would prompt the Fed to restart rate cuts. The answer depends on which risk materializes first: a collapse in the labor market, or a significant drop in inflation towards the 2% target level. Since the last meeting in December, neither has happened. As a result, despite significant political pressure from the White House, the committee remains in a wait-and-see mode. Most officials still believe a rate cut is possible later this year, but there is disagreement on when the data will support it.

South Dakota Lawmaker Pushes Bitcoin Reserve Bill Again

According to Cointelegraph, South Dakota Representative Logan Manhart reintroduced the Bitcoin Reserve Bill (HB 1155) this Tuesday, marking his second attempt since taking office in 2025. The bill aims to amend state law to allow the State Investment Council to invest up to 10% of public funds in Bitcoin.

Manhart announced the bill on social media platform X, stating: "Strong money, strong state." This proposal is nearly identical to the one he introduced in 2025, but that bill was tabled and failed to become law.

Currently, only Texas, Arizona, and New Hampshire have passed laws allowing state governments to invest in Bitcoin or hold seized cryptocurrency, but legislators in other regions have proposed similar measures.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Gold ETF Expected to List on Jan 29, Plans to Issue Tokenized Fund Units on Ethereum

According to Aastocks, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Investment announced the issuance of a new gold exchange-traded fund, the "Hang Seng Gold ETF," expected to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this Thursday (Jan 29). This ETF holds physical gold, with all gold bars stored in a designated vault in Hong Kong. It also plans to establish a tokenized non-listed category of fund units, with HSBC serving as the tokenization agent. Initially, Ethereum is intended to be the primary blockchain, with the potential to adopt other public blockchains with equivalent security resilience and distributed ledger technology in the future. It is reported that fund unit holders can subscribe or redeem tokenized fund units in token form through qualified distributors.

Tether Adds ~27 Tons of Gold in Q4 2025, Gold Reserves Account for ~7%

Stablecoin issuer Tether stated that it added approximately 27 tons of gold in the fourth quarter of 2025, similar in scale to the third quarter. The current USDT circulation is about $187 billion, with its reserves still primarily consisting of US Treasury bonds, and gold accounting for about 7%. Meanwhile, the gold-backed stablecoin XAUT issued by Tether is fully backed by physical gold, corresponding to 16.2 tons of gold as of the end of 2025, representing about 60% of the global gold stablecoin supply. Tether has now entered the ranks of the world's top 30 gold holders, surpassing countries like Greece, Qatar, and Australia.

It is reported that Tether's total physical gold holdings reached 520,089.350 ounces as of the end of Q4 2025, with the total number of XAUT tokens in circulation being 520,089.3.

Tether Announces Launch of Federally Regulated Stablecoin USA₮

According to an official announcement from Tether, it has officially launched the federally regulated USD-backed stablecoin USA₮. This stablecoin is specifically designed to operate within the US federal stablecoin framework established by the GENIUS Act and is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, the first federally regulated stablecoin issuer in the US.

USA₮ is a digital dollar tailored for the US market, with Cantor Fitzgerald serving as the designated reserve custodian and preferred primary dealer. Former White House Crypto Council Executive Director Bo Hines serves as the CEO of Tether USA₮.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that USA₮ provides institutions with a US-made option for a USD-backed token. In the first phase, USA₮ will be listed on platforms such as Bybit, Crypto.com, Kraken, OKX, and Moonpay.

Moonbirds Releases $birb Tokenomics Model, 65% Allocated to Community

The Moonbirds project has officially unveiled the economics model for its $birb token. The token allocation is as follows:

Community Allocation (65%):

• Holder Rewards (27%): Allocated to Birb and Friends holders to build a stronger community development
• Ecosystem Partner Expansion (12%): Performance-based allocation to secure high-value partnerships, drive user acquisition, and execute regional brand activations
• Value Chain Incentives (10%): Incentivize operational excellence, rewarding community members who contribute to the project's physical infrastructure
• Liquidity (8%): Ensure healthy market depth and easy trading, reserved for centralized exchange listings, deposit activities, and market-making services to minimize slippage
• Innovation (8%): Strategic reserve dedicated to the future development of the ecosystem

Team & Investor Allocation (35%):

• Team (10%): Provides long-term incentives for the team to continue driving the vision of transforming the collectibles industry
• Investors and Advisors (25%): Reserved for strategic partners who provide funding, networks, and guidance, helping the project scale from zero to one

Blockchain Game 'Forgotten Runiverse' Suspends Operations Due to Financial Difficulties

According to Decrypt, the free-to-play role-playing game 'Forgotten Runiverse,' based on the Ethereum scaling network Ronin, announced it will shut down its servers this Tuesday, suspending operations. The development team stated on social media platform X that despite efforts to overcome many obstacles, they "have reached a point where maintaining the game's operating environment is no longer financially viable in its current state."

'Forgotten Runiverse' is based on the lore of the Ethereum NFT collection "Forgotten Runes Wizard's Cult" and launched globally last year, but is shutting down less than a year later. The team stated that all account and progress data will be securely preserved, but the game will be inaccessible while the team evaluates potential development paths.

Analyst: 1INCH Faces Liquidity Crisis, a Single $2 Million Sell Order Causes 13% Price Drop

According to on-chain analyst EmberCN (@EmberCN) monitoring, the 1INCH token, with a circulating market cap of approximately $180 million, is experiencing severe liquidity issues. A sell order of less than $2 million caused its price to drop by 13%. Data shows that the 24-hour trading volume for the 1INCH/USDT pair on Binance was only $1.5 million, of which $1.16 million came from arbitrage bots, with the actual trading volume being only $340,000.

ClawdBot Founder: GitHub Account Hijacked by Crypto Scammers, Requests Assistance

ClawdBot founder Peter Steinberger posted on a social media platform, "Is there anyone in my circle who is at GitHub and can help me recover my GitHub account? It was taken over by cryptocurrency scammers."

Previous news indicated he posted, "Will never issue a token. Any project listing me as a token owner is a scam."

Crypto Payments Network Mesh Completes $75M Series C Funding Led by Dragonfly Capital, Valuation Reaches $1 Billion

According to PRNewswire, crypto payments network Mesh announced the completion of a $75 million Series C funding round, valuing the company at $1 billion. This round was led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Paradigm, Moderne Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, SBI Investment, and Liberty City Ventures, bringing Mesh's total funding to over $200 million.

Mesh is dedicated to connecting the fragmented global crypto market, bypassing the slow settlements and high fees of traditional finance. The company provides a unified payments network supporting a borderless tokenized economy. Mesh's global network currently covers over 900 million users, and this funding will accelerate its expansion in Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

SoftBank Plans Additional Investment of Up to $30 Billion in OpenAI

According to the Wall Street Journal, SoftBank Group is in talks with artificial intelligence company OpenAI for an additional investment of up to $30 billion. Sources familiar with the matter revealed this would further increase SoftBank's already substantial stake in the ChatGPT developer.

This investment is part of a larger funding plan by OpenAI. The company is seeking to raise up to $100 billion in new funding from investors. If fully realized, this round would push OpenAI's valuation to approximately $830 billion.

Market Dynamics

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