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!

DEFI ALPHA

We’ve revamped Alpha to help you fully embrace your inner degen and maximize your crypto gains!

New features include an exclusive Telegram group where our resident degens share real-time intelligence from the trenches, a biweekly Alpha call where you can chat directly with the DeFi Alpha newsletter authors, and additional content to help you stay on top of hot trends.

Just recently, we caught:

WHISP at 5M (ATH 27M - 5x)
SCHIZO at 4.5M (ATH 45M - 10x)
NEUR at 3M (ATH 80M - 26x)

Previous wins:

ALCH at 4M (ATH 200M - 50x)
ARMY on Ripple at 2M (ATH 100M - 50x)
PNUT at 5M (ATH 2.2B - 440x)
ZEREBRO at 600K (ATH 600M - 1000x)

What are you waiting for? Subscribe now and join the Telegram group!

THANKING OUR NEWSLETTER SPONSORS

| NEWSLETTER CONTINUES BELOW |

Impossible Cloud Network (ICN) is a revolutionary cloud platform that connects enterprise-grade hardware with cloud service providers. ICN is building an open cloud that is more performant than typical web2 providers while being more cost-effective so that the largest companies in the world will run their operations in it.

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.