PA Daily News | Tether aims for $15 billion in profits by 2025; Spot gold surpasses $5,300, breaking through four key levels this week.

Today's top news highlights:

1. Spot gold has climbed above $5,300, breaking through four key levels this week.

2. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the United Arab Emirates signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen cross-border digital asset cooperation.

3. Tether launches a new stablecoin, USA₮, targeting the US market.

4. Moonbirds announces BIRB token economic model: 65% allocated to community distribution.

5. He Yi: Binance plans to return $1 billion to $2 billion to its users through various activities by 2025.

6. Crypto payment network Mesh raises $75 million in Series C funding, led by Dragonfly Capital.

7. Data: Tether's profits will reach $15 billion in 2025.

Regulatory news

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the United Arab Emirates signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance cross-border digital asset cooperation.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Capital Markets Authority of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today to enhance cross-border regulatory cooperation on matters related to digital assets. This landmark MOU is the first agreement signed between the SFC and an overseas regulatory body on regulatory cooperation regarding regulated digital asset entities. The MOU establishes a framework for enhanced regulatory cooperation, including mutual consultation and information exchange on the regulation of cross-border regulated digital asset entities, fully demonstrating the SFC's commitment to promoting international cooperation in accordance with its ASPIRe roadmap.

Spot gold has climbed above $5,300, breaking through four key levels this week.

According to Jinshi News, spot gold prices have been rising steadily, breaking through $5,300 per ounce for the first time. It has broken through four whole $100 marks this week, with a cumulative increase of over $300 this week.

Project Updates

The Ethereum Foundation disbursed over $7.38 million in funding in Q4, covering areas such as ZK, education, and development tools.

According to an announcement from the Ethereum Foundation, the EF Ecosystem Support Program disbursed over $7.38 million in funding in the fourth quarter of 2025, covering multiple areas including ZK technology, consensus mechanisms, community education, development tools and protocol research, supporting dozens of projects and individuals including @axiom_xyz, @ChainSafeth, @Nethermind, and @WalletConnect, and continuously promoting the development of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Binance will list Zama (ZAMA), the fifth Prime Sale Pre-TGE project.

According to Binance Chinese, Binance Wallet will launch the fifth Prime Sale Pre-TGE project, Zama (ZAMA), from 16:00 to 18:00 (UTC+8) on January 29, 2026, which is only open to eligible users who hold Alpha Points.

Tether launches a new stablecoin, USA₮, targeting the US market.

Tether has officially launched its USD-denominated stablecoin, USA₮, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, NA. This product operates under the newly passed GENIUS Act federal stablecoin framework in the United States. USA₮ is custodied and held in reserve by Cantor Fitzgerald and is issued to US institutions and platforms, initially including Bybit, Crypto.com, Kraken, OKX, and Moonpay. Tether stated that while the globally circulating USD₮ will continue to comply with GENIUS Act requirements, USA₮ is specifically designed for the highly regulated US environment and issued through a federally regulated bank. Tether Operations also emphasized that USA₮ is not a legal tender and is not insured by government agencies such as the FDIC or SIPC.

ZK-powered Bitcoin Layer 2 network Citrea mainnet launches and issues stablecoin.

Citrea, a Bitcoin Layer 2 project backed by Founders Fund and Galaxy, has officially launched its mainnet and introduced its native stablecoin, ctUSD, powered by M0 infrastructure. Citrea uses zkEVM to process transactions and incorporates zero-knowledge proofs into the Bitcoin mainnet, supporting financial applications such as BTC-collateralized lending and structured products, with the goal of building a native Bitcoin financial market.

Coinbase includes TRIA and ZAMA in its IPO roadmap

Coinbase Markets has announced that it will add Tria (TRIA) and Zama (ZAMA) to its listing roadmap.

Moonbirds unveils BIRB token economic model: 65% allocated to community distribution.

NFT project Moonbirds announced its BIRB token economic model, with 65% of the total supply allocated to the community. The specific allocation is as follows: 27% for holder rewards, 12% for ecosystem partner expansion, 10% for value chain incentives, 8% for liquidity, 8% for innovation, 10% for the team, and 25% for investors and advisors.

This model aims to build a closer community and drive the project's growth from scratch by incentivizing holders, expanding partnerships, rewarding community contributions, and ensuring market liquidity. Tokens allocated to the team and investors will serve as long-term incentives and strategic resources.

Previously, it was reported that Moonbirds' BIRB token would be launched on the Solana blockchain on January 28 .

The blockchain game Forgotten Runiverse announced that it will shut down its servers due to financial difficulties.

Forgotten Runiverse, a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) powered by the Ethereum scaling network Ronin, has announced it will shut down its servers, becoming the latest crypto game to cease operations. In a statement, the development team said that while they had worked hard to overcome challenges, maintaining the game's operation was no longer financially feasible, hence the decision to close the live service in its current state. All account data will be preserved, but the game will be inaccessible. The team stated that they have not abandoned the project and are evaluating potential future paths.

The game originated from the Ethereum NFT project "Forgotten Runes Wizard's Cult", which was launched globally last year and received investment from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and others. It was once planned to be released on Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox platforms.

Social NFT platform Rodeo announces it will be gradually shutting down.

Social NFT platform Rodeo has announced its phase-out, becoming the second NFT platform to cease operations this week. Launched last March through Apple's iOS App Store, the platform focused on a social-centric NFT collecting experience.

The platform's co-founder and CEO stated that despite the product's popularity within the core community, it failed to achieve the scale required for sustainable operation and therefore could not continue operating. The platform will remain operational from January 27th to February 10th, after which it will switch to read-only mode and shut down completely on March 10th. Rodeo has developed a user asset and data migration plan, including support for transferring media and metadata to the storage platform Arweave, and providing an asset migration assistant to guide users in transferring assets out of the platform's smart contracts.

Farcaster founder: We had hoped to launch a token, but the right time never came.

When Farcaster founder Dan Romero responded to the question on social media, “Say something you couldn’t say publicly before the acquisition, but can now say openly,” he replied, “I had hoped to issue tokens for Farcaster, but I just never got the right time.”

Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF is now available on Morgan Stanley's E*TRADE platform.

Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF is now available on Morgan Stanley's E*TRADE trading platform, expanding regulated Bitcoin investment access for US financial advisors and their clients. With advisors managing over $7.4 trillion in client assets on the platform, this launch is considered a significant milestone in Grayscale's product distribution.

Bitwise has registered the "Bitwise Uniswap ETF" in Delaware.

Cryptocurrency asset management firm Bitwise has registered a statutory trust entity for the "Bitwise Uniswap ETF" in Delaware, in preparation for a potential future ETF application related to the decentralized trading protocol Uniswap. Such state registrations typically precede formal applications to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by several months, and most do not progress to later stages.

Analysts point out that this move is a strategic step by Bitwise to retain its options and does not necessarily mean that it has entered SEC review or has a clear timeline for listing.

Binance Alpha will list Moonbirds (BIRB).

According to an official announcement, Binance Alpha will list Moonbirds (BIRB) on January 28th. Eligible users can claim the airdrop using Binance Alpha Points on the Alpha event page after trading opens. More details will be announced soon; please follow Binance's official channels for the latest information.

Opinions/Analysis

Arthur Hayes: If the Federal Reserve expands its balance sheet to intervene in the yen and Japanese government bonds, it will benefit risk assets such as Bitcoin.

In his latest article, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes offers an in-depth analysis of the unusual global market reaction to the recent depreciation of the yen and the decline in Japanese government bond prices. He believes this foreshadows a possible collaboration between the Federal Reserve and the Treasury to directly intervene in the yen and Japanese government bond markets through "money printing" in order to inject new liquidity into the global fiat currency system.

Hayes elaborated on possible intervention paths: the New York Fed would create dollar reserves, instructing primary dealers like JPMorgan Chase to sell dollars and buy yen in the foreign exchange market to support the exchange rate, and potentially invest the yen in Japanese government bonds to lower their yields. This operation would inflate the "foreign currency-denominated assets" item on the Fed's balance sheet, essentially allowing the Fed to absorb the yen's exchange rate and Japanese government bond interest rate risks through money printing. He analyzed the motivations and consequences of this move: aiming to stabilize the yen and lower Japanese government bond yields to prevent Japanese investors from massively selling off US Treasuries and repatriating their funds, thus avoiding a runaway rise in US Treasury yields and simultaneously enhancing US export competitiveness. This process would increase global dollar liquidity and potentially push up the euro and renminbi exchange rates simultaneously. Hayes pointed out that this "non-QE" balance sheet expansion would ultimately provide upward momentum for risk assets, including Bitcoin.

Regarding trading strategy, he stated that a rapid strengthening of the yen against the dollar is typically a signal of risk asset reduction. Bitcoin fell due to the yen's strength, and he will not increase his risk exposure until it is confirmed that the Federal Reserve is intervening in the yen and Japanese government bond markets by expanding its balance sheet. He has closed his positions in leveraged Bitcoin-related assets such as Strategy and Metaplanet, and said he will re-enter the market if his judgment is correct. While waiting, his fund Maelstrom continues to increase its holdings of Zcash, while maintaining its positions in other high-quality DeFi tokens. He stated that if the Federal Reserve does indeed expand its balance sheet to intervene in the foreign exchange and bond markets, it will increase its holdings of DeFi assets such as ENA, ETHFI, PENDLE, and LDO.

PayPal Survey: Large Enterprises Lead the Popularity of Cryptocurrency Payments

A PayPal merchant survey reveals that cryptocurrency payment adoption is being led by large enterprises, with nearly 85% of respondents expecting it to become widespread within the next five years. The survey, conducted in late October 2025, found that approximately 40% of surveyed merchants already accept cryptocurrency payments. These merchants indicated that cryptocurrency payments account for "more than a quarter" of their total sales, with about three-quarters reporting an increase in cryptocurrency sales over the past year. Among large enterprises with annual revenue exceeding $500 million, the adoption rate is as high as 50%, significantly higher than that of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The survey also indicated that nearly 90% of merchants said they would be willing to try encrypted payments if the experience were as convenient as traditional card payments and the setup process as simple as accepting credit cards. The head of PayPal's encrypted business stated that the data shows encrypted payments are moving from the experimental stage to everyday business applications, driven by customer demand for faster and more flexible payment methods.

Analysis: The Nick Shirley token case highlights the Zora-driven surge in Base and the "vanity metric" issue.

Despite a recent surge in token issuance on the Base network due to Zora and its "content token" mechanism, the number of active addresses on the network is at its lowest level in 18 months, and transaction volume is also declining. This discrepancy highlights a "vanity metric" problem on the network. Zora's mechanism allows creators to issue tokens with near-zero cost and extremely low friction, leading to a flood of low-value tokens that, while inflating issuance statistics, fail to translate into sustained user engagement or actual economic activity.

The token $thenickshirley, launched by content creator Nick Shirley last December, is a prime example. Despite his exposé of daycare fraud garnering over 100 million views and attracting attention from figures including Elon Musk and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the token's market capitalization briefly surged to $15 million before plummeting to around $75,000, with a 24-hour trading volume of only about $45,000. It's estimated that Shirley himself earned between $40,000 and $65,000 in royalties from the token's trading, but has not engaged in any ongoing community building or content planning around it. Analysts point out that such "content tokens" lack a fundamental value proposition and are essentially "speculation on speculation."

He Yi: Binance plans to return $1 billion to $2 billion to its users through various activities by 2025.

In response to questions about "Binance's long-term efforts to reward users through events, but these efforts are often overlooked," Binance CEO He Yi stated on social media that Binance plans to reward users with between $1 billion and $2 billion through events by 2025, and the team will study future promotional methods for these events.

Investment and Financing

Crypto payment network Mesh raises $75 million in Series C funding, led by Dragonfly Capital.

Crypto payment network Mesh announced the completion of a $75 million Series C funding round, valuing the company at $1 billion post-money. The round was led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Paradigm, Moderne Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, SBI Investment, and Liberty City Ventures. This brings the company's total funding to over $200 million. The funds will be used to accelerate expansion in Latin America, Asia, and Europe, and to drive product development. Mesh positions itself as an asset-agnostic unified payment network, already serving over 900 million users. It supports payments using any asset, including Bitcoin and Solana, while merchants settle instantly in stablecoins such as USDC and PYUSD, or their local fiat currencies. Part of this funding round was also settled in stablecoins.

Tenbin Labs, a tokenization marketplace for gold and forex, has raised $7 million in funding, led by Galaxy Digital.

Galaxy Digital led a $7 million funding round for Tenbin Labs, which aims to build tokenized gold and foreign exchange markets. The project focuses on bringing traditional financial assets onto the blockchain and expanding the practical application of crypto assets in global markets.

Notion has completed a private equity takeover bid totaling approximately $270 million, valuing the company at $11 billion.

According to its official blog, productivity app Notion announced the recent completion of a private equity acquisition offer totaling approximately $270 million, valuing the company at $11 billion. New investor GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, participated in the transaction alongside existing investors Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures, directly purchasing shares from current and former employees.

The company stated that the acquisition aims to provide employees with financial liquidity to support their long-term development and life plans. To this end, the company specifically eliminated the one-year vesting period for employee stock options, allowing almost all employees to participate. Notion's growth is accelerating in 2025 due to the adoption of AI capabilities, with over 50% of its annual recurring revenue coming from AI customers by year-end, a proportion that has doubled in the past year. The company recently opened an office in Singapore to support its rapid growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $30 billion more in OpenAI.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal cited by Jinshi, sources familiar with the matter revealed that SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $30 billion more in OpenAI, which would further expand SoftBank's stake in the company. Previously, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI was seeking to raise up to $100 billion in new funding from investors, which, if successful, could value the company at $830 billion. Negotiations are still ongoing, and the specific terms are subject to change. SoftBank is already one of OpenAI's largest shareholders; last December, it invested $22.5 billion, increasing its stake to 11%.

Important data

A dormant Ethereum whale transferred 135,000 ETH to Gemini this week.

A dormant Ethereum whale, which had been holding ETH for nine years, recently transferred all 135,284 ETH it held to the Gemini exchange, worth approximately $397 million at current prices. The wallet purchased ETH in 2017 at around $90 per ETH, and currently holds a profit of approximately $385 million.

1INCH liquidity is a concern; a single sell-off triggered a 13% drop in market capitalization.

According to Yu Jin, although 1INCH has a circulating market capitalization of $180 million, its liquidity is extremely poor. A single sell-off of less than $2 million has caused the price to drop by more than 13%. The 24-hour trading volume of the Binance 1INCH/USDT pair is only $1.5 million, of which about 77% is provided by arbitrage bots, and the actual trading volume is only $340,000, reflecting the current weak liquidity in the altcoin market.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $147 million yesterday, with BlackRock's IBIT experiencing the largest net outflow at $103 million.

Ethereum spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $63.5334 million yesterday, with BlackRock's ETHA experiencing the largest net outflow at $58.9679 million.

Data: Tether's profits will reach $15 billion in 2025.

According to Fortune, Tether is projected to generate approximately $15 billion in profits by 2025, with assets totaling $187 billion, encompassing US Treasury bonds, Bitcoin, and gold. CEO Paolo Ardoino points out that stablecoins are entering the mainstream financial landscape, driven by clearer compliance regulations under the GENIUS Act. USDT, leveraging its first-mover advantage, is widely used in emerging markets, and Tether is also investing heavily in areas such as satellites and data centers, seeking to disrupt traditional finance and infrastructure.

Tether holds approximately 140 tons of gold, worth about $23 billion.

Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings SA has become one of the largest players in the global gold market, holding approximately 140 tons of gold, worth about $23 billion, and is believed to be the largest known holder of physical gold outside of banks and nations. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed that the company is continuously purchasing gold at a rate of 1 to 2 tons per week, aiming to establish a long-term, stable physical gold reserve in a former Swiss nuclear bunker. He emphasized that this move is akin to acting as "one of the world's largest gold central banks," and predicted that geopolitical rivals will launch gold-pegged alternative currencies to the US dollar, for which Tether has already prepared its gold token, XAUT.

By 2025, Tether had purchased over 70 tons of gold, exceeding the holdings of almost all single central banks except for the Polish central bank, and surpassing many large gold ETFs. In addition to direct holdings, Tether has hired a former senior gold trader from HSBC and plans to establish a gold trading platform to compete with banks such as JPMorgan Chase. The company is also acquiring stakes in several mid-sized Canadian gold mining concessionaires.

According to previous reports, Tether increased its gold reserves by approximately 27 tons in the fourth quarter of 2025 .

CME's crypto derivatives trading volume reached nearly $3 trillion in notional principal in 2025.

CME Group released a report stating that its cryptocurrency futures and options traded nearly $3 trillion in notional principal in 2025, with average daily trading volume increasing to 280,000 contracts (approximately $12 billion) and average daily open interest reaching 313,000 contracts (approximately $26 billion). Q4 trading volume increased by 92% year-over-year, open interest doubled, and the number of Large OI Holders reached a new high of 1,039. Bitcoin and Ethereum futures continued to contribute to liquidity, with products such as Micro Contracts and MET setting new trading records. In the spot-quoted futures market, QBTC saw a single-day trading volume of 128,000 contracts on December 30th, surpassing 1 million contracts for the month; Spot-Quoted futures, including QBTC, QETH, QSOL, and QXRP, totaled 131,000 contracts traded that day, supporting CME's continued expansion of new products such as the Volatility Index and TAS in 2026.