Neynar Buys Farcaster; Mask Stewards Lens

️ On today's Top Picks:

Crypto News

• ⭐️ Neynar acquires Farcaster for an undisclosed amount; includes protocol, Farcaster app, & Clanker; founders Dan Romero, Varun Srinivasan, & other team members to "move on to something new."

• ⭐️ Mask Network to steward the next chapter of Lens, "consumer-grade execution, product design, and global distribution"; former Lens team to continue as technical advisors.

• ⭐️ US Crypto Market Structure Bill potentially delayed to late February or March; White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt criticized Coinbase $COIN for recently withdrawing support for the bill.

• US CFTC Chairman Mike Selig launches the “Future-Proof” initiative; aims to modernize the CFTC's approach to digital assets.

• Treasury Secretary Bessent confirms US Government will add seized Bitcoin $BTC to its digital asset reserve; President Trump's EO 14233 signed in March 2025 mandates forfeited BTC be held in the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

• Strategy $MSTR buys an additional 22,305 Bitcoin $BTC for ~$2.13B at ~$95,284 per BTC: now holds 709,715 BTC (~$63.5B) acquired for ~$53.92B at ~$75,979 per BTC.

• Bitmine $BMNR buys an additional 35,628 Ethereum $ETH (~$107M); now holds 4,203,036 ETH (~$12.6B) & $979M in cash.

• Polymarket banned in Portugal & Hungary citing, illegal gambling activity; also recently received enforcement actions from Nevada & Tennessee.

• TMTG $DJT to take "snapshot" of shareholders for Digital Token Initiative on February 2nd; eligible shareholders will receive new rewards token & incentives soon; to launch on Crypto[.]com's Cronos $CRO blockchain.

• Hong Kong to issue first batch of stablecoin licenses in Q1 2026; Hong Kong's stablecoin licensing regime requires fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers to meet strict standards on reserves, redemption, and risk management.

• Bitpanda to launch stock and ETF trading on January 29th; recently reported it seeks to go public on the Frankfurt, Germany stock market as early as H1 2026.

Alpha

• ⭐️ Nado $INK launches "The Choice"; Private Alpha users can choose from points, a fee refund, or a Nado NFT (fully claimed); to launch Open Beta on January 30th.

• Cascade launches final pre-allocation event for Cascade’s Liquidity Strategy (CLS); $5M cap & open for ~24 hours; depositors will earn Cascade Points.

• Rainbow $RNBW to take snapshot of Rainbow Points holders on January 26th; users can earn points by trading spot, perps, and/or predictions; to launch airdrop on February 5th.

• Noble $NOBLE to migrate from Cosmos SDK-based blockchain to standalone EVM Layer 1; to unveil the next phase of Noble on March 18th; users were previously able to link an Ethereum address on Noble.

• Nansen launches Points Season 3; features new partners, new perks, & upcoming new permissionless rewards; also launches new AI trading feature; users can earn points by trading, staking, & subscribing.

• Etherscan launches new Points Overview Card powered by Checkpoint; users can check how many points an address has for several projects.

• ICYMI MegaETH $MEGA to launch global stress test on mainnet on January 22nd; users will be able to access 3 apps while the chain is under sustained load; to then launch public mainnet "in the days that follow."

Airdrops

• ⭐️ Seeker $SKR (Solana Mobile) launches airdrop claim; Seeker users & developers are eligible; closes in ~90 days.

• ETHGas $GWEI launches airdrop claim; Beans (points) holders who also shared their Gas ID on X or quote-tweeted ETHGas’ Open Gas Initiative announcement are eligible.

• HeyElsa $ELSA launches airdrop claim; HeyElsa V1 & V2 points holders were eligible to register; registration closed on January 19th.

• Mezo $MEZO to launch airdrop claim soon; Mezo Mats (points) holders & Mezo Bitcoin borrowers were eligible to register.

• ICYMI Cap $CAP to launch "Stabledrop" soon; Frontier program participants (Caps points holders) will be eligible to claim cUSD, not CAP.

• ICYMI Fogo $FOGO launches airdrop claim; Fogo Flames (points) holders, Discord role holders, & more are eligible; to launch Fogo Flames Season 2 next week.

Finance News

• ⭐️ US President Trump cancels new tariffs on EU countries after forming framework for a future deal on Greenland with the Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte; Polymarket predicts a ~42% chance a deal is signed by March 31st.

• Stocks & Crypto recover while Gold $XAU & Silver $XAG fall after US President Trump announces cancellation of tariffs on the EU and potential future deal on Greenland.

• US Supreme Court delays ruling (again) on the legality of President Trump's tariffs; to potentially issue ruling in February; Polymarket predicts a ~30% chance the Supreme Court rules in favor of Trump's tariffs.

• US White House signs new Executive Order: “Stopping Wall Street from competing with Main Street homebuyers”; restricts institutional investors from buying single-family homes.

• Galaxy Digital $GLXY to reportedly launch $100M hedge fund in Q1 2026; to allocate 30% to crypto & 70% to financial services stocks.

• ICYMI NYSE $ICE to launch tokenized securities platform; to feature 24/7 trading of US equities & ETFs, instant settlement via tokenized capital, stablecoin-based funding, & more.

Security and Exploits

• Caroline Ellison, former Alameda Research co-CEO, released from custody; Ellison served 440 days after pleading guilty & testifying against SBF in 2023; barred from executive roles in public firms and crypto exchanges for 10 years.

• Eye (@eyeonchains) posts investigation into the Trove $TROVE team; recently rug pulled after raising $11.4M in an ICO.

• Makina working to recover funds after being exploited for ~1,299 Ethereum $ETH (~$4M); development of a patch is currently in progress and has been submitted for external audit review.

• Crypto[.]com $CRO & Revolut implement new in-app call warning feature; users will see a warning banner if they open the app during an active phone call that isn't from the company.

• BlockSec Phalcon launches Phalcon Network, a "public intelligence network that tracks illicit funds across blockchains and alerts your platform BEFORE they're withdrawn"; registration is open.

Token Unlocks

• LayerZero $ZRO / ~$44M / JAN 20th
• Kaito $KAITO / ~$4M / JAN 20th
• Plume $PLUME / ~$20M / JAN 21st
• River $RIVER / ~$68M / JAN 22nd
• SOON $SOON / ~$7M / JAN 23rd
• Monad $MON / ~$3M / JAN 24th
Sourced from Tokenomist

Funding

• Space raises $14M in Public Sale from individual investors.

• Finst raises €8M in a Series A funding led by Endeit Capital.

• River $RIVER raises $8M in Strategic funding from Justin Sun.

• Cork Protocol raises $5.5M in Seed funding led by Road Capital & a16z Crypto CSX.

• Bitway raises $4.44M in Seed funding led by TRON $TRX.

• CheckSig raises €3.5M in Extended Series A funding from several investors.

• Immunefi $IMU raises $2.5M in Public Sale on Gate Launchpad.

• HyperLend raises $1.7M in funding from several investors.

• Shielded Labs receives 3,221 Zcash $ZEC (~$1.2M) donation from Tyler Winklevoss & Cameron Winklevoss.

• Fogo $FOGO raises an undisclosed amount in funding from GSR & Selini Capital.

The Degen Farmer