🚀Ethereum ETFs Just Had a Record Month

Happy weekend Defiers!

Ethereum ETFs attracted nearly $2.1 billion in December for their best month since launching in July 2024. Meanwhile, as Bitcoin consolidates under $100,000, Blackrock’s IBIT suffered its largest single-day outflow of $333 million on Jan. 2.

AI-related tokens have stolen the spotlight from traditional memecoins, with AI16z and VIRTUAL leading the charge. However, some investors predict that AI mania will fizzle out within a year.

XRP flipped USDT again to become the third-largest crypto asset. Tether is under pressure in Europe after MiCA regulations took effect on Dec. 30.

Plus, Ethena rallies after releasing its 2025 roadmap, Solayer unveils upcoming airdrop, Telegram rolls out NFT feature, and HYPE staking goes live.

Also, don’t forget to check out our podcast with Anna Kazlauskas, creator of Vana and CEO of Open Data Labs.

Enjoy!

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PODCAST & INTERVIEWS

Disrupting Big Tech with Decentralized Data Ownership | Anna Kazlauskas, Creator of Vana

In this week’s podcast, Cami Russo was joined by Anna Kazlauskas, Creator of Vana and CEO of Open Data Labs.

In this conversation, Anna explores the integration of AI and blockchain, highlighting how user owned data could lead to improved AI models and challenge the dominance of major tech companies in the data economy. The discussion examines the potential economic and ethical impacts of decentralized data, outlining the role of user control in fostering innovation and equity. Anna also shares her vision for a future where data ownership drives broader participation in the AI driven economy.

Friday

Ethena’s ENA Spikes on 2025 Roadmap Release Plans are afoot to integrate the staked USDe stablecoin yield into TradFi’s fixed-income market and payments tool for Telegram’s 900 million users.
Virtuals Protocol Patches Bug Flagged By Security Researcher The AI agent launchpad also announced that it plans to launch a bug bounty program.
Memecoin Rally Driven by Dogecoin, Fartcoin, and Bonk Sparks 15% Market Surge The memecoin market outperformed the broader cryptocurrency sector on Jan. 3, reaching a total capitalization of $127 billion.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Suffers Largest Single-Day Outflow of $333 Million The Nasdaq-listed IBIT ETF faced its largest outflows since launch, as Bitcoin spot ETFs experienced overall outflows of $242 million on Jan. 2.
On Bitcoin’s 16th Birthday, Difficulty and Hashrate Reach All-Time Highs With bitcoin’s price having more than doubled last year, the effort thrown at mining bitcoins is also growing rapidly, with the hashrate cracking one zetahash.
Solayer Announces Foundation, LAYER Token and Upcoming Airdrop The launch of a foundation and token are part of its efforts to support the next phase of its journey.
AI Memecoin Craze Will End in a Year, Says Dragonfly Capital’s Haseeb Qureshi The novelty of ‘AI-flavored memecoins’ will die off by 2026, the venture capitalist predicted.
XRP Overtakes Tether to Become Third-Largest Cryptocurrency XRP's 13% weekly rally has pushed its market cap to $140 billion.
AI Token Frenzy Continues Fear of missing out prevails as traders pile into any new token that has the word “AI” associated with it.

Thursday

Ethereum ETFs Recorded Inflows of $2.1 Billion in December BlackRock’s ETHA led the charge, amassing the majority of December’s $2 billion in inflows.
Memecoins Struggle Amid AI Mania Established memecoins like PEPE and WIF underperformed in December as attention shifted to AI agents.
Telegram Rolls Out Feature to Turn Digital Gifts into NFTs The new feature reflects the growing trend of integrating digital assets into mainstream platforms.
Tether's Market Cap Sheds $3 Billion as Europe’s MiCA Regulations Take Effect This is USDT’s sharpest decline since the FTX crash, falling from $140 billion to $137 billion amid growing regulatory pressure in the EU.
Vitalik Buterin Calls Elon Musk’s ‘Banhammer’ a Threat to Free Speech Ethereum’s founder also called on the world’s richest man to tone down the rhetoric after his four-letter defense of special visas for foreign tech workers.
Drift Protocol Season 2 Airdrop Scheduled for May 2025 It will be the perpetuals trading platform’s second airdrop, following its token launch in May 2024, where 120 million tokens were distributed.
AI Token Infrastructure Outperforms Agents and Memecoins The market has shifted from agent-specific tokens, towards AI agent frameworks.
Kekius Maximus Memecoin Dips 70% After Elon Musk Changes X Profile Name The memecoin’s price surged by over 3,000% when Musk changed his profile name on Dec. 31.

Tuesday

Michael Saylor Closes 2024 Still “Buying the Top” Crypto’s biggest champion ended the year with one last bitcoin buy, bringing MicroStrategy’s horde to 446,400 BTC.
Galaxy Says Bitcoin to Hit $185K, ETH $5,500 in 2025 Year-end predictions from Galaxy Research also included TradFi climbing aboard the Ethereum train and a stablecoin boom bypassing Tether.
Grayscale Says Tokens Including Hyperliquid, Ethena and Virtuals Will Have Great Q1 Grayscale researchers made the prediction based on three primary market themes.