Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Soars Ahead of Trump's Inauguration

Happy weekend Defiers!

Crypto markets are surging ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Monday, with Bitcoin trading firmly above $100,000. Investor sentiment was buoyed earlier in the week as reports showed U.S. inflation easing, boosting hopes for rate cuts by the Fed.

Traders are piling into TRUMP, a new memecoin purportedly launched by the President-elect on Friday night. The token is trading at a whopping $24 billion valuation.

Ripple’s XRP soared to an all-time high market capitalization of $192 billion. The token has surged nearly 600% since Trump’s election victory.

Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade is slated to go live in March. Meanwhile, on the Layer 2 front, the Base ecosystem is rallying after Coinbase listed TOSHI, Abstract announced an incentive program, and Tether launched its cross-chain USDT0 on Kraken’s Ink network.

This week in AI, Franklin Templeton said AI Agents will ‘revolutionize’ social media, AGIXT soared on launch, and ELIZA unveiled a $420,000 physical robot.

December 2024 was a record month for centralized exchanges, as trading volumes hit a record $11.3 trillion.

Plus, Multicoin floats Solana inflation proposal, Coinbase partners with Morpho for Bitcoin-backed loans, Ross Ulbricht memecoins soar, and DeFAI gains traction.

Also, don’t forget to check out our podcast with Zhouxun Yin, co-founder of Magic Eden.

Enjoy!

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PODCAST & INTERVIEWS

Magic Eden’s Vision: On-Chain Trading, $ME Token, and the Next Airdrop | Zhuoxun Yin, Co-Founder

In this week’s podcast, Cami Russo was joined by Zhouxun Yin, the co-founder of Magic Eden.

In this episode, he shares the story behind Magic Eden’s founding, their decision to focus on Solana early on, and their multi-chain expansion strategy. Z dives into the challenges of navigating the bear market, enforcing royalties, and launching a token to unite their ecosystem. He also explores the future of NFTs, their integration with AI, and Magic Eden's ambitious shift toward becoming an all-encompassing on-chain trading platform.

Saturday

• Trump’s ‘Official’ Memecoin Skyrockets to $24 Billion Valuation Within Hours The President-elect’s social media accounts promoted the TRUMP token as crypto industry executives gathered in Washington for a Crypto Ball.

Friday

• Base Eyes $100B in Assets and 25M Users On-Chain in 2025 Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 chain sets “big, hairy, audacious” goals for this year.
• Ethereum Pectra Network Upgrade to Go Live in March Hard forks on Ethereum test networks have been scheduled for February ahead of the mainnet launch.
• Ethereum Layer 2 Abstract Announces Incentives Program Mainnet is slated to launch before the end of January, and Abstract just announced its version of a points program.
• AGIXT Token Surges to $100 Million Market Cap Hours From Launch The token is the latest AI Agent infrastructure token to launch on PumpFun.
• Tether Launches Cross-Chain Stablecoin USDT0 Tether launched USDT0 on Kraken’s Layer 2, Ink.
• Crypto Trading Volumes on Centralized Exchanges Reached Record $11.3 Trillion in December Last month marked a historic peak in crypto trading volumes on centralized exchanges, driven by increased market activity and Bitcoin's price surge.
• Multicoin Proposal Seeks to Reduce SOL Inflation and Transition to Market-Driven Emissions As Solana’s economic activity grows, a new proposal suggests shifting from fixed emissions to a dynamic system.

Thursday

• XRP and Solana Surge as Bitcoin and Ethereum Slide Heightened volatility rocks the cryptocurrency market ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
• Will the Next Crypto ETF Belong to Litecoin? LTC is rallying after analysts said they see signs that an ETF proposal is moving ahead at the SEC.
• Coinbase Rolls Out Bitcoin-Backed Loans with Morpho Vice President Max Branzburg called the loans a way of “unlocking economic freedom for all.”
• Ross Ulbricht Memecoins Tag All-Time Highs On Commutation Bets Traders are buying up the rumor that President Donald Trump will hold to his word and commute the Silk Road founder’s sentence.
• AI16z and Eliza Wakes Up Launch $420,000 Physical Robot Eliza Wakes Up is now accepting pre-orders for its life-sized Eliza robot.
• 1Money Raises $20 Million to Build Stablecoin Payments Network Over 20 venture firms participated in the platform’s seed funding round, including F-Prime Capital and Galaxy Ventures.
• XRP Surges to All-time High Market Capitalization of $192 Billion Whales have accumulated approximately $3.8 billion in XRP since Nov. 12, according to Santiment.
• DeFAI and AI Agents Lead as Altcoins Rebound AI Agents remain the strongest performers in the crypto markets, with a bounce led by AIXBT, ARC, and GRIFFAIN.
• Spot Trading Volumes Surged to Record $6.46 Trillion in Q4: CoinGecko The 2024 Annual Crypto Industry Report highlighted AI market cap and Solana’s market share spiking in the fourth quarter.
• Dubai to Open World’s First ‘Crypto Tower’ by 2027 The 17-story Crypto Tower is set to become a hub for blockchain, Web3, and DeFi companies.
• AnchorZero’s Roth IRA Shields Pre-Listing Tokens from Capital Gains Taxes Holders of token warrants, TGE tokens, and even staking and governance tokens can utilize the product.
• World Liberty Financial Dumps BTC For ETH Amid Treasury Shuffle The Trump-affiliated DeFi platform recently swapped 103 Wrapped Bitcoin worth $10 million for 3,075 ETH.

Wednesday

• Franklin Templeton Says AI Agents Will ‘Revolutionize’ Social Media, Sending Tokens Soaring The global investment manager’s report sent AI agent tokens up 30% to 90%.
• Crypto Market Rallies as CPI Report Fuels Investor Optimism Improved U.S. inflation figures have bolstered confidence in digital assets, with Bitcoin and Ethereum leading a broad market rally.
• Jupiter’s Jupuary Airdrop Checker Goes Live 700 million JUP, approximately $581 million will be airdropped to eligible participants across three categories.
• Thailand Considers Bitcoin ETFs as Crypto Adoption Grows in Asia The country’s SEC is exploring listing Bitcoin ETFs on local exchanges, following the launch of a fund offering exposure to overseas options.
• Base Ecosystem Rallies After Coinbase Lists TOSHI The memecoin is Coinbase’s first Base-native listing, and also the one with the lowest market capitalization.
• Solana-based Roam is Building a Decentralized WiFi Network with Token Rewards The DePIN project relies on miners who set up WiFi hotspots to earn ROAM rewards to create a secure public WiFi network.
• HashKey Forecasts Bitcoin Surging to $300,000 This Year HashKey’s 2025 outlook anticipates significant market growth driven by decentralized exchanges, AI integration, and global regulatory alignment.
• Bitfinex’s LEO Surges After US Court Order To Return 120,000 of Stolen Bitcoin To Exchange U.S. government to surrender over half of Its Bitcoin holdings.
• SEC Commissioners Said To Be Planning Crypto Overhaul When Gensler Leaves SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s planned departure on inauguration day will leave two pro-crypto commissioners in charge until joined by incoming Chairman Paul Atkins.
• CryptoPunks Rally on IP Acquisition Speculation The flagship NFT profile picture collection is up 10% on the rumor, but Yuga’s CEO has denied the claims.
• Bitwise Says Nations Holding Bitcoin Will Double in 2025 Bitwise's prediction comes amid growing global adoption of Bitcoin, as more countries recognize its potential as a hedge against economic uncertainty.
• AssetDash and Griffain Collaborate on Moby AI Agent The multi-chain portfolio tracker launched its official AI agent, Moby, with the help of Griffain.

Tuesday

• Crypto Markets Bounce as Data Shows Cooling U.S. Wholesale Inflation Bitcoin led the charge with a 5% rally, while Ethereum, XRP, and Solana also posted gains of 5% to 10%.
• TON Blockchain Targets U.S. Growth Under Trump Administration Citing the president-elect’s promises of a crypto-friendly environment, the Telegram messaging service-linked blockchain is refocusing on the U.S. market.
• Chainalysis Says a Record $51B Crypto Was Spent in Illicit Activities in 2024 Cybercrimes Research Lead Eric Jardine said 2025 will be the year AI changes crypto, for better and for worse.
• Spot Bitcoin ETFs Celebrate One Year Anniversary After Record Year Spot Bitcoin ETFs surpassed $105 billion in net assets in 2024
• eGirl Capital Projects Bullish 2025 The founder of Cove Finance expects a golden age of American-based DeFi.
• Semler Scientific Adds 237 BTC as Corporate Bitcoin Investments Ramp Up The latest $23M purchase makes Semler the twelfth largest public corporate BTC holder.
• Bitwise CIO Says MicroStrategy’s BTC Holding is an Overlooked Megatrend Claims hundreds of companies will adopt the strategy over the next one and a half years.
• DeFi Dominated in 2024, DappRadar Report Shows Decentralized finance grew by 532% in 2024, while NFTs saw their worst year since 2020.
• Morpho TVL Up 150% Since its Token Launch The peer-to-peer lending layer is experiencing a surge in active users and active loans.
• Sony Layer 2 Soneium Fields User Uproar Over Frozen Memecoins Soneium’s restrictions on its launch day spark debate over intellectual property enforcement and decentralization.
• MicroStrategy Boosts Bitcoin Holdings by Another $243 Million Saylor’s software company has acquired an additional 2,530 BTC, pushing its reserves above $43 billion.

Monday

• Cryptocurrency Market Losses Extend Into Second Week Amid Macroeconomic Uncertainty A stronger U.S. labor market fuels risk-off sentiment, leading to a broad sell-off in the crypto market.
• Tether is Moving to El Salvador Citing its Pro-Bitcoin Policies The British Virgin Islands-based stablecoin issuer is relocating to the Central American nation.
• Bankless Faces Backlash After its VC Arm Sold Aiccelerate DAO Tokens The founders said it was an impulsive mistake and that they have repurchased the AICC tokens.
• Prediction Market Polymarket Banned in Singapore The leading prediction market may be planning a return to the U.S., but in Singapore, it has been declared an illegal gambling site.
• Mango Markets to Shut Down After SEC Settlement The Solana lending protocol will close its operations effective Jan. 13
• MoonPay Acquires Helio for $175 Million to Expand Crypto Payments The acquisition strengthens MoonPay’s position in the Web3 space
• AI Agent Tokens Dip Amid Market Correction Tokens at the intersection of AI and crypto are the worst performers in crypto today.
• Daily Web3 Users Grew to 18 Million in December 2024: Report The "State of Web3 Adoption Report 2025" reveals a 202% increase in daily crypto users over the past year.
• Azuki Reveals ANIME Tokenomics with 37% Allocated to NFT Holders The NFT project will release its flagship token sometime before the end of January.
• Euler Finance TVL Rises 38x in 3 Months The lending platform’s active loan count is back above the $100 million mark after recovering from its 2023 hack.

TRENDING

• Base Eyes $100B in Assets and 25M Users On-Chain in 2025
• AGIXT Token Surges to $100 Million Market Cap Hours From Launch
• Crypto Trading Volumes on Centralized Exchanges Reached Record $11.3 Trillion in December
• Ross Ulbricht Memecoins Tag All-Time Highs On Commutation Bets
• Coinbase Rolls Out Bitcoin-Backed Loans with Morpho
• AI16z and Eliza Wakes Up Launch $420,000 Physical Robot