Key Insights
- Binance and Coinbase have further extended the support to new spot, futures, and roadmaps, among other digital assets.
- Institutional players brought about increased adoption of cryptocurrency through ETF registrations, banking license apps, and blockchain settlements.
- The NFT-led momentum was witnessed in the revived interest in Pudgy Penguins due to the brand’s expansion and the increase in token engagement.
Over the last 24 hours, there has been a lot of crypto market news concerning everything from new exchange listings and institutional funding to new infrastructure projects to various funding rounds. These developments have taken place within several markets, including derivatives, spot markets, NFTs, stablecoins, and global initiatives to create regulated banks.
Binance and Coinbase Drive Exchange Activity
On January 7, Binance launched a new Silver XAGUSDT perpetual contract listing, which represents an expansion of the company’s offerings in commodities-linked exposure to the FTX Futures exchange.
In addition to the silver contract, Binance announced that it would be listing 币安人生 and zkPass as part of its spot trading offerings. Both of these assets will have seed tags assigned to them upon their release on the platform. These spots will also feature new early-stage tokens available for trading on January 7.
As well as the activity on Binance, Coinbase added to the positive momentum from the early part of the year with several significant announcements about asset support on its platform.
Among the most notable of these assets was Raydium, which was included as a candidate for future listings based on its assets’ level of liquidity and technical capabilities.
While trading is not currently available for this asset at the time of this writing, being included on the asset roadmap often generates increased market interest.
Protocol Standards and Bitcoin Layer Two Funding
A significant amount of crypto news this week relates to Infrastructure Updates, as Tempo introduced the TIP-20 Standard for payment methods using Stablecoins and enterprise payment solutions through the extended ERC-20 standard.
The TIP-20 adds new features to help support payment usage in Stablecoin transactions and enterprise use of ERC-20s.
With the new features in TIP-20, it will be easier for companies and individuals to track transactions and easily comply with applicable regulations.
The TIP-20 extension to the ERC-20 also allows owners of Stablecoins to use their Stablecoins to pay gas fees—using one of the partner networks of TIP-20.
In addition to the progress with Bitcoin infrastructure development, the development of Babylon has also progressed with the acquisition of $15 million in funding from a16z.
This funding brings the total amount raised by Babylon from outside sources to over $103 million since its creation in 2023.
The investment will allow Babylon to complete developing Bitcoin Vaults, which will allow for BTC to be used as productive DeFi collateral. In connection with this round of funding, a16z also purchased BABY tokens directly from Babylon.
Solana, XRP Exposure, and Prediction Markets
Solana Mobile has revealed that the SKR token will be released on January 21. This was announced after Seeker Season One, which had excellent application usage and transaction volume.
In their announcement, developers mentioned analytics from the ecosystem, which showed more than 100,000 people participated in the promotion during the season.
In addition, XRP’s accessibility increased, with Flare Network adding FXRP to the Hyperliquid platform and supporting FXRP/USDC pairings for spot trading via an on-chain order book.
The foundation of FXRP’s structure is based on the Flare Network’s FAssets and LayerZero’s standard for interoperability, with the ability to transfer FXRP back to the XRPL for use in lending and staking.
Institutional Finance and Regulatory Filings
Institutional activity dominated crypto market news as JPMorgan prepared to launch JPM Coin on the Canton Network. The move follows its recent Base deployment and targets institutional settlement efficiency.
Canton Network participation continues to grow among regulated financial entities. JPM Coin supports near-instant issuance, transfers, and redemptions for clients.
Morgan Stanley added to the trend by filing for an Ethereum Trust with U.S. regulators. The filing followed similar steps taken for Bitcoin and Solana investment products.
The filing reflects a broader interest in offering regulated crypto exposure vehicles. Traditional asset managers continue to expand digital asset product lines.
ETFs, Corporate Moves, and NFT Momentum
Crypto market news also included Chainlink’s regulatory accomplishments with the approval of Bitwise’s application for a spot LINK ETF traded on NYSE Arca by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The CLNK ETF is intended to provide holders of LINK direct exposure to Chainlink by utilizing Coinbase’s custodial services, and the Bitwise application provided detailed descriptions of waived fees and possibilities for staking.
Several other announcements detailing continued corporate development and mergers further expanded Chainlink’s reach into more traditional markets.
Fireblocks has announced it will purchase TRES Finance for $130 million, creating synergies in its accounting solution for blockchain and fintech companies.
Market culture also received heavy attention over recent weeks due to the continuing popularity of the Pudgy Penguins brand on various social media channels.
As the Pudgy Penguins team continues to expand their product offerings into physical retail and gaming, as well as media, the growing interest in the brand is helping to further support prices for the PENGU token.
