NYSE To Launch 24/7 Tokenized Securities Platform

️ On today's Top Picks:

Crypto News

• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong to discuss US market structure bill with bank executives at the World Economic Forum from January 19th to 23rd; Coinbase withdrew support for the bill citing several issues on January 14th.

• Bermuda partners with Coinbase $COIN & Circle $CRCL to "build the world’s first fully onchain national economy"; COIN & CRCL to provide digital asset tools to the Bermuda government, local banks, insurers, businesses, and consumers.

• Ethereum $ETH co-founder Vitalik Buterin calls "more DAOs - but different and better DAOs" in post on X; says modern DAO design is “inefficient, vulnerable to capture, and fails utterly at the goal of mitigating the weaknesses of human politics.”

• Hyperliquid Foundation $HYPE donates 10K HYPE (~$254K) to ZachXBT; marks his second-largest donation, with Optimism being the largest donor.

• Riot Platforms $RIOT sells 1,080 $BTC (~$96M) to acquire 200 acres of land at Rockdale; also signs 25MW Data Center Lease and Services Agreement with $AMD.

• Steak'n Shake $BH buys an additional $10M of Bitcoin $BTC for its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve; began accepting BTC via Lightning Network across its US locations in May 2025.

• Digital Asset Investment Products saw ~$2.2B in inflows last week; Bitcoin $BTC ~$1.6B inflows, Ethereum $ETH ~$496M inflows, Solana $SOL ~$46M inflows, Ripple $XRP ~$70M inflows.

• Revolut applies for full banking license in Peru; marks the firm's fifth market expansion in Latin America.

Alpha

• ⭐️ 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."

• Soneium launches Soneium Score Season 5 NFT badge; users with at least 80 points are eligible to mint; Season 6 is live.

• Infinex $INX to launch TGE on January 30th; to take snapshot of Patrons NFT holders within 24 hours of TGE.

• Genius $GENIUS to launch TGE before April 12th; users can earn Genius Points (GP) by trading; GP Season 1 ends on April 12th.

• Nansen to launch Season 3 this week; promises new partners, new perks, & new permissionless rewards; to open trading access to free users soon.

• Moonbirds $BIRB launches Meteora X Moonbirds SBT; Meteora users who had an LP position between December 1st, 2025 through January 15th, 2026 are eligible to claim.

• ICYMI MetaMask $MASK launches support for Tron $TRX network; Rewards Season 1 to end on January 22nd; currently offering 3x points for prediction markets.

Airdrops

• ⭐️ ETHGas $GWEI completes airdrop snapshot of Beans (points) holders; to launch airdrop checker on January 20th & airdrop claim on January 21st.

• Mezo $MEZO to close airdrop registration on January 21st; Mezo Mats (points) holders & Mezo Bitcoin borrowers are eligible.

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

• HeyElsa $ELSA to launch airdrop claim on January 20th; HeyElsa V1 & V2 points holders were eligible to register.

• 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

• Key Events This Week: US markets closed on January 19th, US Q3 2025 GDP data & November PCE Inflation data on January 22nd, 10% of S&P 500 $SPX companies report earnings.

• US President Trump announces 10% tariff on several EU countries beginning on February 1st; increases to 25% beginning on June 1st; to remain in effect until the US reaches a deal to buy Greenland; Polymarket predicts a ~24% chance the US will acquire part of Greenland in 2026.

• EU prepares up to €93B in tariffs and other restrictions on US companies in response to President Trump’s 10% tariff and demands for Greenland; France’s President Macron calls for the EU to use the "anti-coercion instrument."

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

• China GDP grows 5% in 2025; though Q4 growth slowed to 4.5%, the weakest in nearly three years, as consumer spending fell short of expectations.

• ⭐️ 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.

• Gold $XAU & Silver $XAG reach new all-time highs (again); Gold is up ~8% YTD & Silver is up ~32% YTD.

• US President Trump to sue JPMorgan Chase $JPM for allegedly debanking him; also denies offering JPM CEO Jamie Dimon the job of Federal Reserve Chainman.

• Elon Musk seeks up to $134B in lawsuit against OpenAI; says OpenAI has become a for-profit company, entitling him to compensation from his early contributions; to go to trial in late April; Polymarket predicts a ~51% chance Musk will win the case.

Security and Exploits

• Anza publishes January 2026 Security Patch Summary; covers why Solana $SOL released a "critical" v3.0.14 update for validators last week.

• ⭐️ Trove $TROVE rug pulls after raising $11.4M in an ICO; Bubblemaps discovered one entity receiving 12% of TROVE supply.

• Makina exploited for ~1,299 Ethereum $ETH (~$4M); activates security mode across all Machines; advises LPs in the DUSD Curve pool to remove liquidity.

• Paradex rolls back chain after database migration error briefly priced Bitcoin at $0 & triggered mass liquidations; has since been restored and user funds are safe.

• BlockSec Phalcon to launch a "public intelligence network for illicit funds" soon; says "Completely free to join. Stay tuned" on X.

• South Korea Customs uncovers alleged $102M crypto laundering scheme; 3 Chinese nationals allegedly laundered 148.9B won by “exploiting domestic and overseas cryptocurrency accounts and Korean bank accounts.”

Token Unlocks

• Melania $MELANIA / ~$4M / JAN 18th
• Trump $TRUMP / ~$269M / JAN 18th
• Ondo $ONDO / ~$744M / JAN 18th
• LayerZero $ZRO / ~$44M / JAN 20th
• Kaito $KAITO / ~$4M / JAN 20th
• Plume $PLUME / ~$20M / JAN 21st
• River $RIVER / ~$49M / JAN 22nd
Sourced from Tokenomist

Funding

• ⭐️ Pump[.]fun announces Pump Fund, pump fun’s new investment arm; launches first initiative, a $3M Build in Public Hackathon, which will fund 12 projects with $250K at a $10M valuation.

• ICYMI Saturn raises $800K in funding from YZi Labs & Sora Ventures.

The Degen Farmer