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TL;DR

• Trump's Order Could Push Bitcoin to $200K

• Robinhood Expands into Bitcoin, Oil, and Gold Futures

• Venice Launches VVV Token on Ethereum

• Ethereum Community Backs Danny Ryan for EF Leadership

• Virtuals Expands to Solana with New Initiatives

• Jupiter Unveils JUP Net and Strategic Growth Plans

• Injective Unveils Native EVM for AI-Enabled Finance

• Injective Leads in Liquidity Growth Among Top Chains

• Avalanche Blockchain Cuts Transaction Fees by 75%

• Wormhole Enhances Tokenized Assets on Avalanche

• DeepSeek Triggers Sell-Off in Crypto and Tech Markets

• Binance Faces French Money Laundering Probe

And much more!

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Bitcoin Highlights of the Week

Trump's Order Could Push Bitcoin to $200K

Trump’s January 23 crypto executive order may alter Bitcoin’s four-year boom and bust cycle, according to Bitwise’s Matt Hougan. The order, combined with changes at the SEC, allows Wall Street to move aggressively into crypto.

While Hougan believes the industry will not fully escape the four-year cycle, future pullbacks are expected to be shorter and less severe. He also noted that a more diverse range of investors has matured the market. Despite these changes, Hougan maintains a $200,000 Bitcoin price prediction by 2025, with or without a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Czech Bank Proposes €7B Bitcoin Reserve

The Czech National Bank, led by Governor Aleš Michl, is proposing to invest up to 5% of its €146 billion reserves—approximately €7.3 billion—into Bitcoin, potentially making the Czech Republic one of the first major economies to hold cryptocurrency in its reserves.

This bold move contrasts with the European Central Bank’s stance, as ECB President Christine Lagarde has ruled out Bitcoin inclusion in EU reserves, citing concerns over liquidity, security, and criminal risks. The proposal highlights a growing divide in how nations view Bitcoin’s role in financial strategies, sparking debate over its legitimacy in mainstream finance.

Bitcoin Rallies as Fed Holds Rates Steady

Bitcoin surged to $105K following the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain interest rates at 4.25%-4.50%, despite President Trump’s push for cuts to stimulate growth. The Fed cited progress on inflation and labor market stability as reasons for its cautious stance. Bitcoin initially experienced volatility but rallied post-announcement, reflecting its sensitivity to monetary policy.

The Fed’s resistance to political pressure highlights its focus on measured economic strategies. For crypto investors, this underscores the critical role of central bank decisions in shaping market dynamics, as Bitcoin continues to react to broader financial policy shifts.

EV Company Nuvve Adopts Bitcoin

Nuvve Holdings Corp., a green energy company specializing in EV charging, announced plans to allocate up to 30% of its excess cash—approximately $325,425—into Bitcoin and accept it as payment for services. This move aligns with a growing trend of companies like MicroStrategy and Tesla adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets.

Nuvve’s CEO, Gregory Poilasne, highlighted Bitcoin’s potential to reduce transactional friction and expand payment options. While the initial investment is modest, the announcement boosted Nuvve’s stock by 1.42%. The company aims to balance operational needs with Bitcoin’s benefits, reflecting cautious optimism toward the volatile yet increasingly mainstream digital asset.

Ripple CEO Advocates XRP in US Digital Reserve

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is pushing for XRP’s inclusion in a proposed U.S. digital asset reserve, alongside Bitcoin, emphasizing diversification and regulatory clarity. Speaking at the CfC St. Moritz conference, he highlighted the need for a “multichain” approach.

However, Bitcoin maximalists oppose the move, citing XRP’s centralized nature as contrary to Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos. President Trump’s recent executive order calls for a “national digital asset stockpile,” potentially opening the door for multiple cryptocurrencies. Garlinghouse’s efforts, combined with XRP’s recent price surge, underscore the ongoing debate over which digital assets will shape U.S. crypto policy.

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Ethereum Highlights of the Week

Venice Launches VVV Token on Ethereum

Venice, a privacy-focused AI platform founded by Erik Voorhees, has launched its VVV token on Ethereum’s Layer 2 Base network. The token, designed to combine blockchain and AI, enables decentralized, uncensored AI inference via Venice’s API.

Of the 100 million VVV tokens created, 50% were airdropped to Venice users and AI community projects, while 35% were allocated to Venice’s team and operations. The token offers no governance rights but allows stakers to access Venice’s API capacity indefinitely. Venice, which has grown to 450,000 users since its May launch, aims to provide private, open-source AI tools, challenging centralized AI platforms.

Ethereum Community Backs Danny Ryan for EF Leadership

Ethereum community members have shown strong support for Danny Ryan to lead the Ethereum Foundation (EF) through an informal on-chain vote. Over 300 wallets holding more than 50,000 ETH participated in the vote on votedannyryan.com, reflecting a desire for leadership changes amid concerns over Ethereum’s progress and performance.

While the EF has not commented on the vote, Vitalik Buterin recently emphasized his sole authority to appoint leadership. The vote highlights the growing use of on-chain signals to gauge community sentiment and could pressure the EF to address calls for leadership reforms.

SSV Network Unveils Ethereum BApps Infrastructure

SSV Network has announced its SSV 2.0 upgrade, enabling "based apps" (bApps) to connect directly to Ethereum’s layer-1 chain. This infrastructure leverages Ethereum validators for security, supporting use cases like layer-2 networks, data oracles, and fraud proofs.

The upgrade introduces a new coordination layer for cross-chain compatibility with blockchains like Solana and Avalanche, alongside updated tokenomics with staking rewards and burning mechanisms. SSV Labs CEO Alon Muroch called it a "transformative leap" for Ethereum security. The move aims to address fragmentation in Ethereum’s ecosystem, with Coinbase’s Base network head Jesse Pollak endorsing the approach for enhanced connectivity and security.

Paradigm Urges Faster Ethereum Protocol Updates

Crypto VC firm Paradigm has called for Ethereum to accelerate its protocol updates to deliver on its "ambitious roadmap" without compromising its core values of decentralization and neutrality. In a Jan. 25 blog post, Paradigm argued that Ethereum’s current pace of one major change per year is insufficient and urged more frequent, parallel development efforts.

The firm highlighted the need for native rollups for layer-2 security, improved wallet infrastructure, and scaling solutions without raising the block gas limit. The Ethereum Foundation recently pledged $160 million in ETH to support DeFi and announced organizational changes to boost developer support and transparency.

Ethereum L2s Embrace Based and Native Rollups

Ethereum layer-2 leaders, including Base’s Jesse Pollak and Optimism’s Ben Jones, are rallying behind "based" and "native" rollups to enhance Ethereum’s security and reduce fragmentation. Based rollups, proposed by Ethereum developer Justin Drake, decentralize transaction sequencing by leveraging Ethereum validators, while native rollups improve base-layer execution.

Despite sacrificing significant revenue from centralized sequencers—Arbitrum and Base have earned 210million and 96.2 million, respectively—the shift aims to strengthen Ethereum’s base layer and potentially boost ETH’s value. Taiko CEO Daniel Wang also supports the FABRIC standard, which facilitates based rollups, to address Ethereum’s interoperability challenges.

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Solana Highlights of the Week

Virtuals Expands to Solana with New Initiatives

Virtuals Protocol has announced its expansion to Solana, aiming to leverage the network’s speed and scalability to empower builders and drive innovation. Key initiatives include the launch of a Meteora Pool for trading, a Strategic SOL Reserve (SSR) funded by 1% of trading fees to reward creators, and maintaining the AGENT/VIRTUAL trading pair for consistency.

Virtuals also introduced a Venture Partner Model, offering 42K $VIRTUAL token grants to Base and Solana-based projects. Additionally, an AI Hackathon in March, supported by the Solana Foundation, will foster collaboration and innovation. Virtuals’ multichain vision is bolstered by partnerships with Jupiter Exchange and LayerZero.

Jupiter Unveils JUP Net and Strategic Growth Plans

Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX aggregator, has announced JUP Net, a liquidity and infrastructure network aimed at enhancing Solana’s DeFi ecosystem with seamless liquidity aggregation, faster swaps, and ecosystem-wide integrations.

The platform also revealed strategic acquisitions, including portions of Moonshot and Sonarwatch, to build its Jupiter Portfolio tool. During the recent Catstanbul event, Jupiter processed over $1.5 billion in 24-hour trading volume, showcasing its growing influence. Additionally, 3 billion JUP tokens were burned, further fueling bullish sentiment.

Solana Dominates DEX Market, Challenging Ethereum

Solana has surged to capture nearly half of the decentralized exchange (DEX) market share, driven by its fast transaction speeds, low costs, and developer-friendly tools, according to OKX’s latest report. The memecoin launchpad Pump.fun and DEX Jupiter have significantly contributed to Solana’s rise, with the network briefly holding an 89.7% market share in late December.

While Solana excels in retail activity and transaction volume, Ethereum maintains dominance in liquidity pool quality, real-world asset tokenization, and whale activity. OKX notes that Ethereum’s layer-2 solutions are beginning to rival Solana’s efficiency, but Solana’s resilience and retail appeal position it as a strong competitor in the DEX space.

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