Weekly Recap: Trade War Uncertainty Roils Crypto Markets
Happy weekend Defiers!
It was a volatile week for crypto markets amid ongoing uncertainty over Trump’s trade tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico. Bitcoin plunged as low as $92,000 before recovering some ground to end the week at $96,000.
The memecoin sector has been obliterated since TRUMP launched in mid-January, casting doubts on the ‘memecoin supercycle.’ Meanwhile, AI tokens have cratered, with leading names like VIRTUAL and ai16z down 70% in just a month.
On the regulatory front, Crypto Czar David Sacks said that crypto regulations and a Bitcoin reserve are priorities for the Trump administration.
Plus, Berachain launched its mainnet, VanEck sees SOL hitting $520 this year, CZ inadvertently pumped a memecoin, and MegaETH unveiled a soulbound NFT-based ICO.
Also, don’t forget to check out our interview with Alon Muroch, founder of SSV Labs, and podcast with Preston Van Loon, an Ethereum core developer.
Enjoy!
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PODCAST & INTERVIEWS
Expanding Ethereum Staking: Alon Muroch on SSV Network and Validator Innovation
Alon Muroch, founder of SSV Labs, explains SSV Network’s approach to Ethereum staking. He describes how SSV uses Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) to structure staking operations, decentralize validator responsibilities, and manage over 2 million ETH.
Murdoch also outlines SSV 2.0, which expands validator functions beyond staking to securing other protocols, and discusses ongoing conversations about Ethereum’s governance.
Court Overturns Tornado Cash Sanctions: What’s Next for Privacy? Preston Van Loon, Ethereum Core Dev
Preston Van Loon, an Ethereum core developer, joins The Defiant Podcast this week to discuss his role as a plaintiff in the high-profile Tornado Cash lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
He described how the sanctions imposed on Tornado Cash impacted legitimate users seeking privacy on Ethereum and underscored the significance of a recent appellate court ruling questioning whether smart contracts qualify as “property” under U.S. sanctions law.
Friday
- Memecoins Lose $47 Billion in Market Capitalization Since TRUMP Launch The memecoin sector is down 40% since Trump launched his official memecoin on Jan. 17.
- VanEck Predicts Solana Could Hit $520 in 2025 The asset manager projects Solana’s market share among smart contract platforms will grow to 22%.
- Crypto Exchange Volumes Drop for First Time In Four Months: CCData Centralized exchanges recorded a 20% drop in trading volume in January amid market uncertainty.
- Story Protocol Reveals Tokenomics Ahead of Mainnet Launch Backed by a16z and Polychain Capital, the intellectual property management protocol plans a staking fair launch.
- Crypto Market Wavers as US Jobs Report Signals Slowing Economy Bitcoin gains 1%, Ethereum slips, and XRP rises amid macroeconomic uncertainty.
- Arthur Hayes is Against a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve The BitMEX founder argues that a Bitcoin reserve will serve little long-term purpose.
- JPMorgan Survey Finds 29% of Institutional Traders Will Trade Crypto This Year That figure is up from 21% in 2024, a substantial increase.
Thursday
- Cryptocurrency Market Posts Mild Losses Amid Trade Tensions Bitcoin and most altcoins dip, suggesting investors remain cautious after this week’s tariff-driven selloff.
- Crypto Community Blasts Jupiter Over Security Lapse in Meow Token Rug Pull Investors criticized Jupiter’s security after its hacked X account promoted a scam token.
- Ondo Finance to Launch RWA-focused Layer 1 Blockchain In addition to Ondo Chain, the real-world asset protocol unveiled a tokenization platform this week.
- Pudgy Penguins Burn $150 Million of PENGU Tokens PENGU is down 18% in the past two days despite the project burning unclaimed airdrop tokens.
- Berachain’s BERA Airdrop Slammed Despite $1.5 Billion Market Cap Surge The token’s value jumped 71% in hours, driven by major announcements and upcoming exchange listings, but some critics are calling it a "grift."
- Coinbase Executive Claims Kraken May Know Satoshi Nakamoto’s Identity Coinbase director Conor Grogan took a deep dive into wallets identified as possibly belonging to the Bitcoin creator.
- CZ Shows How to Launch a $40M Memecoin in Six Hours With TST A BNB Chain team member created a test token, $TST, for a how-to video, and it skyrocketed after Binance founder Changpeng Zhao made an X post.
- Solana Emerges as Top Pick for Retail Investors: Report According to a report from Gemini and Glassnode, Solana has surpassed Bitcoin and Ethereum as the asset of choice for crypto speculators.
Wednesday
- MegaETH Announces ICO via Soulbound NFT Mint The Vitalik-backed blockchain will allocate a minimum of 5% of its token supply to 10,000 soulbound NFTs.
- Crypto Market Slips as Rebound Fizzles After Tariff Pause Bitcoin dipped under $98,000, while ETH fell 2% and SOL plunged 7%.
- UAE Embrace Shiba Inu as Web3 Project Platform The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure has signed a deal to build projects designed to unify development on ShibOS.
- Fluid DEX Volume Soars to All-Time High in February Loans on the DEX and lending protocol hybrid are also climbing.
- Analysts Blame PumpFun For ‘Destroying Altcoin Market’ Pumpfun has generated over $500 million in revenue since its launch in January 2024.
- Ethereum Increases Gas Limit, Enabling More Transactions Per Block A proposal passed to increase the gas limit from 30 million to 36 million.
- Sygnum Researchers Say Ethereum Will Be Biggest Beneficiary of Regulatory Clarity The prediction comes as Ethereum has underperformed despite the approval of spot ETH ETFs, and community members have called for restructuring the Ethereum Foundation.
- PAIN Token Presale Rakes In $40 Million The official IP-backed memecoin is based on the “Hide the Pain Harold” meme.
Tuesday
- Crypto Czar David Sacks Says Stablecoin Bill and Bitcoin Reserve are Priorities A stablecoin bill will likely precede broader market regulation to President Donald Trump’s desk, and a Bitcoin reserve will be a priority.
- Berachain to Launch Mainnet and Airdrop on Feb. 6 The highly anticipated Proof-of-Liquidity Layer 1 ecosystem is set to launch its token and mainnet.
- Coinbase Users Were Scammed Out of $65 Million in a Month, According to ZachXBT Scammers convince users of unauthorized login attempts on their account and tell them to move their funds to another Coinbase wallet.
- Animal Spirits in Crypto Whipsaw From Fear to Greed As Tariffs Concerns Recede The Crypto Fear and Greed Index fell to 44 before jumping back all the way to 72 today.
- Ethereum ETFs Volume Surges as ETH/BTC Plunges to Lowest Since 2021 The plunging ETH price relative to BTC is sparking investor interest.
- Bitcoin Tops $100,000 as Crypto Market Rebounds Amid Tariff Uncertainty Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana surge as the market recovers from recent losses triggered by Trump's tariff.
- Enron IP Owner Launches Predatory Memecoin The once-bankrupt energy company was purchased in 2021 by Connor Gaydos, who launched a memecoin.
- Flash Crash and Rebound Leave Crypto In Recovery Mode After the crypto markets crashed during Asian trading hours, U.S. traders woke up to a bloodbath with record liquidations.
- Bitcoin Dominance Hits New Cycle High At 61.6%, the closely-watched BTC.D metric just hit its highest level since March 2021.
- Raydium Monthly Volume Surpassed Uniswap for the First Time in January Raydium processed 27.11% of all DEX volume in January compared to Uniswap’s 21.96%.
Monday
- Bitcoin Plunges to $92,000 as Trump’s Tariffs Spark Crypto Market Crash ETH accounted for $628M in liquidations, while BTC recorded $460M.
- Tokenized Real-World Assets Hit All-time High of $17 Billion With the legal and technological frameworks falling into place, the sector could grow to $600 billion by 2030.
- OpenSea’s V2 Beta Testers Accuse the Platform of Copying Blur Some beta testers say OpenSea is employing the same tactics it criticized about competitor Blur.
- THORChain Proposes TCY Equity Tokens to Address $200 Million Debt Crisis THORChain’s native token, RUNE, rebounded after sharp losses following the platform’s new debt plan.
- Chainlink Wants to Become Crypto’s Benchmark Index Provider Crypto's largest oracle network is starting with a DeFi yield index.
- Uniswap Seeks to Change DEX Game Again With v4’s “Hooks” The latest upgrade empowers developers with customizable features and significant gas optimizations.
- Solana Stablecoin TVL Doubles on TRUMP Frenzy: CCData Meanwhile, Ripple USD has surged to No. 4 by trade volume on CEXs just five weeks after launching.
- Odin.Fun Wants to Replicate Pump.Fun for Bitcoin Runes Odin.fun, from the founders of Bitcoin ordinals marketplace Bioniq, seeks to promote Runes with a better marketplace and launchpad.
- Tether Bringing USDT to Bitcoin Opens Up Fast Payments and DeFi Plans for Lightning Network-powered native stablecoins come as Tether announces record profits.
TRENDING
- Story Protocol Reveals Tokenomics Ahead of Mainnet Launch
- Arthur Hayes is Against a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
- Crypto Community Blasts Jupiter Over Security Lapse in Meow Token Rug Pull
- Cryptocurrency Market Posts Mild Losses Amid Trade Tensions
- Ondo Finance to Launch RWA-focused Layer 1 Blockchain
- Berachain’s BERA Airdrop Slammed Despite $1.5 Billion Market Cap Surge
