Bitcoin reached an all-time high above $109,000 with a trading volume spike on 20 January; Crypto.com launched the Crypto.com Exchange in the US; Nasdaq filed to allow in-kind redemptions for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.
US spotbitcoin ETFs had a net inflow of US$2.8 billion last week (past five trading days). Spot ether ETFs saw a net inflow of $163 million last week.
On the macro side, Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th US president on 20 January. The latest CME FedWatch Tool showed a 0% probabilityof a January rate cut in the US (same as last week). The Bank of Japan raised interest rates from 0.25% to 0.5%, the highest level since 2008.
Notable updates: Uniswap (UNI) announced that v4 deployments will be rolling out for builders to test integrations on-chain; the Crypto.com App listed Sonic (S), Vine Coin (VINE), and Animecoin (ANIME).
Notable events in the coming week: Interest rate decisions from US, Eurozone, and Canada
Weekly Market Index
Price and volatility indices decreased last week by -0.84% and -66.60%, respectively. Volume index was up by +5.70%.
The broader cryptocurrency market rallied on 20 January, which coincided with US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, before retracing towards the end of the week. Most of the cryptocurrencies in the index were down last week; LINK (+1.79%) and ATOM (+1.55%) led the increase.
Chart of the Week
Bitcoin reached a new all-time high above $109,000 on 20 January, the day of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration. At the same time, bitcoin’s daily trading volume spiked to $126 billion on the day, according to CoinMarketCap, compared to the $56 billion average month-to-date. This was also the highest daily volume since 5 December 2024, when it reached $149 billion as bitcoin hit the $100,000 milestone.
Weekly Performance
BTC and ETH both decreased by -0.7% in the past seven days. Prices of most other selected top market capitalisation tokens were down.
Key categories showed mixed changes in market capitalisation in the past seven days. Meme category led the decrease.
Vitalik Buterin published a blog post about his thoughts on Ethereum scaling, including Layer-2 (L2) growth, advancing blob scaling, and reinforcing Ethereum’s role as the primary asset of the Layer-1 (L1) and L2 Ethereum ecosystems.
Uniswap Labs announced on 22 January that v4 deployments will be rolling out for builders to test integrations on-chain, and all contracts are expected to have a full launch “next week”.
As of 26 Jan 2025 Sources: Crypto.com Research, Crypto.com Price, CoinGecko, protocols’ websites
Sonic is an EVM-compatible L1 blockchain that provides up to 10,000 TPS and sub-second finality. Sonic’s Fee Monetization (FeeM) programme rewards developers with up to 90% of the fees their apps generate. Furthermore, Sonic Gateway provides developers and users with seamless access to liquidity through a native and secure bridge connected to Ethereum. S serves as the native utility and governance token.
Vine Coin (VINE) is a meme coin launched on Solana by Vine Co-founder Rus Yusupov. Vine was a popular social media video sharing platform launched in 2012.
Back by the popular NFT project, Azuki, Animecoin aims to transform the global anime industry into a community-led creative network, empowering fans to shape and own the future of anime. ANIME is used as the gas token for Animechain, a Layer-3 blockchain that leverages Arbitrum Orbit technology. It will also be the governance token used by the AnimeDAO to shape the direction of the Animecoin ecosystem.
As of 26 Jan 2025 Sources: Crypto.com Research, Crypto.com Price, CoinGecko, Protocols’ websites
News Highlights
Crypto.com News
Crypto.com launched the Crypto.com Exchange in the US as part of the company’s institutional-grade offering. US institutional traders can now access a technologically advanced crypto trading platform featuring deep liquidity and low latency. This complements the existing Crypto.com App for retail users in the US.
Regulation / Policy
US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to strengthen US leadership in digital financial technology. The order includes creating a working group to propose new digital asset regulations and explore the creation of a national digital asset stockpile. It also banned the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the US.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)announced the formation of a crypto task force to develop a regulatory framework for crypto assets. In addition, the SEC revoked an accounting guidance, Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121, that required companies to put digital assets under custody as a liability on the balance sheet. SAB 122 was then issued, which directs firms to use Financial Accounting Standards Board rules or International Accounting Standard provisions.
Taiwan’sFinancial Supervisory Commission (FSC) plans to issue a draft bill in June for virtual asset service providers (VASP). It will include plans to allow banks to issue stablecoins, so they can be a bridge between fiat and digital currencies.
Blockchain development firm Blockstream unveiled two institutional investment funds, Blockstream Income Fund and Blockstream Alpha Fund, set to launch in Q1. Blockstream Income Fund is expected to pay USD-denominated yield by lending against bitcoin collateral. Blockstream Alpha Fund provides exposure to infrastructure-based revenue streams; for example, Lightning Network node operations.
Multiple issuers submitted registration filings for crypto investment vehicles last week. CoinShares filed registration statements for a Litecoin ETF and XRP ETF. New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) posted filings for Grayscale Litecoin Trust and Grayscale Solana Trust, which included language on converting the trusts to spot ETFs. In addition, Bitwise Asset Management registered a Dogecoin ETF entity in Delaware, which serves as a legal framework that will enable the firm to launch investment products, including ETFs, in the future.
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Catalyst Calendar
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₿ Bitcoin reached an all-time high above $109,000 with a trading volume spike on 20 Jan; Crypto.com launched the Crypto.com Exchange in the US
Bitcoin reached above $109,000 with a trading volume spike on Jan 20; Crypto.com launched the Crypto.com Exchange in the US; Nasdaq filed for in-kind redemption for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust
