Usual Protocol Update Sparks Controversy

️ On today's Top Picks:

Crypto News

• ⭐️ Usual's $USD0++ drops from $1 to ~$0.92 following protocol update; original documentation did not contain a floor price section, but now states "...the floor is set manually (e.g., 0.87 USD0 per USD0++)..."

• ⭐️ Coinbase receives subpoena from US CFTC for customer data related to Polymarket; affected users may receive an email from Coinbase.

• Bybit to temporarily suspend services in India; cites regulations, but says it could be back within weeks.

• Grayscale announces variety of digital assets it's considering for future investment products; includes $KAS, $APT, $ARB, $TIA, $HBAR, and more.

• Mysten Labs $SUI appoints Kevin Boon as president; to focus on strategy and day-to-day operations; formerly Mysten Labs' chief legal officer.

• FTX Bankruptcy Estate disputes sale of FTX EU to Backpack; Backpack says Cyprus regulator approved purchase.

• Gemini appoints Mark Jennings as head of EU, Daniel Slutzkin as head of UK, & Vijay Selvam as international-focused general counsel; plans to expand footprint in 2025.

• US DOJ indicts operators of sanctioned crypto mixer services Blender and Sinbad; services were used by ransomware gangs and North Korean hackers.

• Messari lays off ~15% of staff; CEO Eric Turner says "...to streamline the business and double down on the growth we've seen across our core product lines.”

Alpha

• ICYMI Eclipse [UPDATED] Airdrop Strategy by Earndrop.

• Berachain announces selected applicants for Request for Broposal: Community (RFC) program; 73 applicants selected.

• Union to launch Testnet 9 soon; Union also recently introduced Union Foundation as Mainnet nears.

• DeBank launches zkLink $ZKL Airdrop Hunter Web3 Badge; users who received ZKL airdrop are eligible to mint.

• Q1 2025 Notable Projects Roadmap by LayerGG.

Airdrops

• ⭐️ Avalon introduces $AVL token; to launch TGE & airdrop soon; 20% of AVL supply allocated for airdrop.

• Allora introduces Allora Foundation; to potentially launch TGE & airdrop soon.

• Union introduces Union Foundation; to potentially launch TGE & airdrop soon.

• Pendle launches $6.1M of airdrops to vePENDLE holders; snapshot taken December 31st; claim from vePENDLE dashboard.

• New Airdrop Opportunities & Updates by Alpha Drops.

Finance News

• US Senate Banking Committee to establish its first-ever subcommittee dedicated to crypto; Senator Cynthia Lummis tentatively chosen to chair the subcommittee.

• Circle donates $1M $USDC to US President-elect Trump's Inaugural Committee; notes committee's willingness to accept stablecoin donation.

• Google $GOOG donates $1M to US President-elect Trump's Inaugural Committee; total inauguration fund reaches $170M in donations.

• Standard Chartered to offer crypto custody services in EU; receives license and opens new entity in Luxembourg.

• Hong Kong Monetary Authority introduces ‘supervisory incubator’ to guide banks in blockchain adoption; incubator to focus on tokenized deposits.

• Russia Ministry of Finance to sell Bitcoin assets seized from Infraud hacker group; a total of 1,032 BTC worth ~$100M was seized.

• MARA Holdings $MARA shareholders to vote on proposal to increase its total authorized shares for issuance from 500M to 800M.

• ⭐️ Quantum Computing stocks drop amid Nvidia $NVDA CEO Jensen Huang's statements; predicts quantum computing won't be viable for another 20 years.

• TSMC $TSMC reports Q4 2024 revenue of ~$26B; beats market forecasts and hits its own expectations.

Security and Exploits

• ⭐️ Transaction Simulation Spoofing used by threat actors to steal crypto; time delay between simulation and execution allows attackers to alter the onchain contract state.

• US OFAC hack linked to Silk Typhoon Chinese state hackers; impact of the breach is still being assessed.

• Proton suffered worldwide outage for ~2 hours; outage caused by software change which overloaded Proton infrastructure; complicated by ongoing infrastructure migration.

• Tails patches multiple critical vulnerabilities; flaws could compromise user anonymity and system integrity.

• Chrome Web Store extensions exploit loophole to manipulate search rankings; legitimate extensions end up buried under unrelated listings.

Token Unlocks

• Starknet $STRK / ~$28M / JAN 15th
• Ethena $ENA / ~$11M / JAN 15th
• Sei $SEI / ~$21M / JAN 15th
Sourced from Tokenomist

Funding

• Privasea raises $10M in Series A funding.

• Alpen raises $8.5M in Strategic funding led by DBA & cyber Fund.

• Oh raises $4.5M in Seed funding.

• Superseed raises $4.47M in Community funding.

• Nevermined raises $4M in Seed funding from Generative Ventures.

• Rena Labs raises $3.3M in Pre-Seed funding led by Paper Ventures.

• Starpower raises $2.5M in funding led by Framework Ventures.

• Ooga Booga raises $1.5M in Strategic funding led by Primal Capital.

• Novastro raises $1.2M in Seed funding led by Woodstock.

• YIEDL raises $735K in funding from OceanDAO (Ocean Protocol).

• Sundial raises undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding led by Figment Capital.

• SEED raises undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from Sui Foundation.

• Derive raises undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from Maelstrom.

• The Go! Project raises undisclosed amount in funding.

• Wise Monkey raises undisclosed amount in funding from DWF Labs.

The Degen Farmer