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Markets are showing signs of strain as Japan’s bond turmoil stirs fresh concerns around global liquidity. Bitcoin wavers near $89K amid volatility linked to Trump’s upcoming Davos appearance, while Solana Mobile rolls out a SKR airdrop and Nansen launches AI-powered trading on Solana and Base.
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News Roundup
Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI Uses AI Age Prediction to Limit Teen Access on ChatGPT (Decrypt)
Google Backs AI Training for Artists as Hollywood Debates the Tech’s Role (Decrypt)
Nansen Launches AI-Powered Trading on Solana and Base (The Block)
Architect Takes Crypto-Style Perpetual Futures Into AI Compute Markets (The Block)
Decentralized, Centralized, & Traditional Finance
Crypto Payment Cards See Explosive Growth as Daily Transactions Jump 22x (The Block)
Hong Kong to Issue First Stablecoin Licenses in Q1 (The Block)
Kintsu Launches SuperMON Vaults With 14.51% APY DeFi Yield Strategy (Kintsu)
Galaxy Digital to Launch $100M Hedge Fund With Crypto Allocation (The Block)
VerifiedX Launches ‘Venmo-for-Crypto’ App Butterfly (CoinDesk)
Iran’s Central Bank Used $507M in USDT to Support Rial, Settle Trade (Decrypt)
Ondo Finance Expands Tokenized U.S. Stocks and ETFs to Solana (Ondo Finance)
Exchanges
Binance Lists Ripple’s RLUSD Stablecoin, XRP Ledger Support Next (CoinDesk)
Bitpanda to Add Stocks and ETFs, Expanding Beyond Crypto (The Block)
Argentine Exchange Ripio Bets on Peso Stablecoins for Long-Term Growth (Cointelegraph)
Exchange-Traded Funds
Grayscale Seeks SEC Approval to Convert NEAR Trust Into Spot ETF (The Block)
On Jan. 20, U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded $483.38 million in net outflows.
U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs saw $229.95 million in net outflows on Jan. 20.
On. Jan. 20, U.S. XRP spot ETFs recorded $53.32 million in net outflows.
U.S. Solana spot ETFs posted $3.08 million in net inflows on Jan. 20.
Infrastructure
Boundless Brings Bitcoin Settlement to Ethereum and Base ZK Proofs (The Block)
Bhutan to Run Sei Network Validator in Q1 2026 (Sei)
Vitalik Buterin Proposes Native DVT for Ethereum Staking (Vitalik Buterin)
AVAX One Launches First Avalanche Validator to Expand Onchain Revenue (Globe Newswire)
Figure Takes Operational Role at Provenance Blockchain (The Block)
Markets
Schwab: Most Crypto Value Still Lives at the Base Layer (CoinDesk)
Japan Bond Turmoil Pressures Bitcoin, Global Liquidity (Decrypt)
Pokémon Card Crypto Exchange Token Crashes 98%, Sparking Investor Fury (DL News)
Bitcoin Wobbles Near $89K as Trump’s Davos Trip Fuels Volatility Fears (DL News)
Unusual Whales Launches “Unusual Predictions” to Track Insider Bets (Unusual Whales)
Claude Code Virality Sparks Solana Token Launch Frenzy (The Block)
High-End Watches Outperform Crypto in Risk-Off Market (CoinDesk)
Wall Street Retreats From Bitcoin Arbitrage Trade (Bloomberg)
AXS Jumps 123% After Axie Infinity Tightens Rewards to Curb Bots (DL News)
Prediction Markets Reach Record TVL as Polymarket Surpasses $330M (The Defiant)
Politics & Regulation
CFTC Warns Shrinking Staff Could Hamper Expanded Crypto Oversight (Decrypt)
Vietnam Opens Licensing Window for Crypto Trading Markets (Vietnam.vn)
Russian High Court Recognizes Crypto as Property (DL News)
Token Generation Events
Solana Mobile Launches SKR Airdrop for Seeker Users and Developers (The Block)
Venture Capital
a16z CSX, Road Capital Back Cork’s $5.5M Seed to Tokenize RWA Risk (The Block)
Other News
How a Third-Party Breach Fueled Phishing Attacks on Ledger Users (Cointelegraph)
Shielded Labs Receives $1.2M ZEC Donation From Winklevoss Twins (Shielded Labs)
World Liberty Financial to Host Inaugural Forum on Feb. 18 (World Liberty Financial)
Steak ’n Shake to Pay Hourly Workers Bitcoin Bonuses Starting March 1 (Steak ‘n Shake)
Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison Set for Release After 440 Days in U.S. Custody (Cointelegraph)
Guernsey Seizes $11.4M Linked to OneCoin ‘Cryptoqueen’ Fraud (Decrypt)
Neynar to Take Over Farcaster Protocol and Operations (Dan Romero)
Check This Out!
The tokenized asset sector is expanding faster than any other area in crypto, as stablecoin market cap climbs past $307B.
Source: Token Terminal
Meme of the Day
Source: Odd-Radio-8500
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