Phantom Raises $150M Series C

️ On today's Top Picks:

Crypto News

• US President-elect Trump receptive to idea of creating strategic reserve that prioritizes coins founded in the US; Trump met with founders of these assets in recent weeks.

• ⭐️ Ethereum $ETH developers to launch Pectra upgrade in March; upgrade focuses on improving user experience in wallets, increasing the maximum validator stake, and more.

• ~32% Of Ethereum $ETH validators signal support for increasing the block gas limit to 40M from 30M; if support reaches >50%, the block gas limit will automatically adjust.

• US President-elect Trump criticizes Ripple $XRP for providing financial support to Kamala Harris during the election; accuses Ripple of not supporting him at a critical moment.

• ⭐️ Burwick Law & Wolf Popper LLC file class action lawsuit against Pump[.]fun on behalf of crypto investors; doesn’t claim team committed fraud, but seeks to hold them accountable.

• Bloomberg ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas says Litecoin $LTC ETF "has all the boxes checked"; says it is likely to be approved by US SEC.

• Tether introduces $USDT0, built using LayerZero’s OFT Standard; initially launching on ink with future expansion to Berachain & MegaETH.

• Coinbase $COIN launches Bitcoin-backed loans powered by Morpho; users can borrow up to $100K in USDC using Bitcoin as collateral.

• South Korea FIU orders Upbit to suspend operation for alleged AML violations; Upbit had until Monday to respond with final decision expected the following day.

• Crypto[.]com secures MiCA license from Malta FSA; expects to receive full CASP license soon which will allow Crypto[.]com to offer services within the EU.

• US SEC charges Digital Currency Group (DCG) and former Genesis CEO Michael Moro for allegedly misleading investors; to settle and pay combined $38.5M in civil penalties.

Alpha

• ⭐️ Abstract introduces Abstract Incentives, a points program for users, builders, & creators to earn XP for onchain activity.

• tea Protocol introduces tea Layer, a Layer 2 blockchain built on Optimism's OP Stack; launches Assam tea Testnet.

• Avara CEO & Founder Stani posts "The chainId is 232" on X; Lens Mainnet to launch soon.

• Wormhole launches $W Rewards for Staking Rewards Program (SRP) Period 1 claim; SRP Reward Period 2 begins.

• Kelp posts "Priming you for $KERNEL .. █████████░ 96% loaded" on X; to launch TGE & airdrop soon.

• Sentient launches Prove Your Human Intelligence campaign; complete to mint a Dobby Fingerprints NFT.

• Union launches Dashboard Beta as part of lead up to Testnet 9; complete missions, earn achievements, get rewards, & more.

• Anoma launches devnet; also first phase of Anoma’s roadmap to mainnet; devnet currently invite-only.

• Linera launches The Real-Time Blockchain Testnet Mega Quest on Galxe; to add more quests in the weeks ahead.

• Rainbow posts "Soon, all true believers will be rewarded.." & "More will be revealed soon.." on X; to potentially launch TGE & airdrop soon.

• Full-Year 2024 & Themes for 2025 by Binance Research.

Airdrops

• Weekly Airdrop Recap by Earndrop.

• Nansen Airdrop Strategy by Earndrop.

• Azuki's $ANIME airdrop to launch on January 23rd; Azuki NFT holders, Arbitrum users, Hyperliquid $HYPE stakers, Kaito yappers, & more to be eligible.

• ⭐️ Orbiter introduces $OBT and launches airdrop checker; Orbiter Points holders & Orbiter NFT holders are eligible; claim on January 20th.

• Solv launches $SOLV airdrop claim; Solv Points holders are eligible.

• BSX launches $BSX airdrop claim; points holders, Lilquid NFT holders, & more are eligible.

• Plume airdrop registration ends on January 18th at 17:00 UTC; early adopters, testnet users, pre-deposit stakers, & more are eligible; claim in Q1.

• Scroll $SCR airdrop 1 claim ends on January 20th at 00:00 UTC; unclaimed tokens to be allocated for future airdrops.

• SoSoValue to launch $SOSO airdrop claim next week; SoSoValue EXP holders to be eligible.

• ICYMI Olimpio launches Derive $JUP mass airdrop checker; no cookies, no tracking, & no signatures.

• ICYMI Olimpio launches Derive $DRV mass airdrop checker; no cookies, no tracking, & no signatures.

Finance News

• US President-elect Donald Trump to issue executive order designating cryptocurrency as a "national priority"; to also create a crypto advisory council.

• US Senator Cynthia Lummis threatens legal action against US FDIC over alleged destruction of crypto documents; whistleblowers reached out regarding the destruction.

• Several US States propose Strategic Bitcoin Reserve plans; includes Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Dakota, and Massachusetts.

• Coinbase $COIN CEO Brian Armstrong endorses the idea of a US Government Strategic Bitcoin Reserve; publishes blog post "Economic freedom creates prosperity for all".

• US Senator Ted Cruz to overturn tax rule requiring certain DeFi brokers to file reports on gross proceeds; rule was expected to go into effect in 2027.

• US IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel to resign; US President-elect Trump previously announced he would to replace Werfel with Billy Long.

• eToro files for US IPO targeting $5B valuation; could list on NYSE as soon as Q2.

• BitFuFu $FUFU to acquire majority stake in 51-megawatt Bitcoin mining facility in Oklahoma; supports ~2.9 EH/s of hashrate.

• Vanguard to pay $106M to resolve violations related to capital-gains distributions in their target-date funds,

Security and Exploits

• WazirX freezes $3M as part of ongoing recovery efforts from last year's $230M cyberattack; WazirX undergoing "restructuring proceedings".

• Scam Sniffer adds Fake Telegram Bot feature to the Scam Sniffer browser extension; detects fake Safeguard bot scams & more.

• US President Joe Biden signs executive order making it easier to sanction hacking groups; also addresses other cybersecurity issues.

• noyb, an EU privacy advocacy group, files GDPR complaints against TikTok, AliExpress, SHEIN, Temu, WeChat, & Xiaomi; alleges unlawful transfer of personal data to China.

Token Unlocks

• Ondo $ONDO / ~$2.8B / JAN 18th
Sourced from Tokenomist

Funding

• ⭐️ Phantom raises $150M in Series C funding led by Sequoia Capital & Paradigm.

• Komainu raises $75M in Series B funding from Blockstream Capital Partners.

• 1Money raises $20M in Seed funding from several investors.

• Merit Systems raises $10M in funding led by a16z crypto & Blockchain Capital.

• GTE raises $10.94M in Pre-Seed, Seed, & Community funding.

• tapestry raises $5.75M in Series A funding led by USV & Fabric Ventures.

• EarnOS raises $5M in funding led by Escape Velocity.

• Hyve Labs raises $2.75M in Pre-Seed funding led by Framework Ventures.

• Reppo raises $2.2M in funding from several investors.

• Timeswap raises $2M in Community funding on Fjord Foundry.

• Mind AI raises $1.2M in funding from several investors.

• Torram raises an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding from several investors.

• BounceBit raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from Laser Digital.

• Octra raises an undisclosed amount in Community funding on Echo.

• Mantis raises an undisclosed amount in funding from CertiK Ventures.

The Degen Farmer