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Chain Reaction Podcast: Your daily crypto fix in just 10 minutes |
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Short on time? Keep up with crypto's rapid pace in just 10 minutes a day. No need to sift through endless articles—"Chain Reaction" distills the most important updates and insights into quick, digestible episodes. |
Why listen? What's in it for you? |
Relevant updates: Get the latest market trends and impactful events. Fresh perspectives: Gain insights that help you connect the dots. Hear the "why" behind the "what" from our team of seasoned analysts. Efficient format: Stay informed and ready to act with bite-sized episodes that cut through the noise.
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On the radar |
Our latest episode takes a closer look at: |
Dogecoin ETF speculation: Could Bitwise be driving the next big move? Bitcoin's trajectory: From $109K to a possible $589K—what's fueling the optimism? AI crypto's $48B market: Exploring its impact on mining ventures and altcoin trends. Ethereum updates: Insights into the Dencun upgrade and leadership changes. Market movers and insights: Jupiter's airdrop, CME's XRP leak, CFTC updates, and Ulbricht's pardon.
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How to tune in |
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Start your day smarter—click, listen, and lead the conversation! |
President Trump's 'national crypto stockpile' directive elicits mixed reactions |
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Key points: |
President Trump has directed a working group to develop a framework for a 'national digital asset stockpile.' Despite being a positive update, it has elicited mixed views from pundits.
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News - Finally, President Trump has issued an executive order to foster digital financial innovation in the US. This would be a precursor to the likely establishment of the national crypto and Bitcoin stockpile. |
Mixed reactions - On 23rd January, President Trump issued an executive order (EO) to establish a 'national digital asset stockpile.' The order instructed a working group to develop a framework for the same within 180 days. This was contrary to what most Bitcoin maxis expected—an exclusive BTC strategic reserve (SBR). |
Part of the EO read, |
"The Working Group shall evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile and propose criteria for establishing such a stockpile, potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts." |
The update has drawn mixed takes from pundits. According to Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, the wording suggested that the US government (USG) wouldn't buy anything extra from what it has seized.
"'Stockpile' is jargon that means holding what they have, but not necessarily buying anything," Thorn stated. |
For context, Senator Cynthia Lummis's SBR proposal targeted 1M BTC. On the contrary, the USG currently holds less than 200K BTC coins. |
Nic Carter, co-founder at Castle Island Investments, echoed Thorn's sentiment but also downplayed the need for SBR. Part of his criticism, posted on Bitcoin Magazine, read,
"Bitcoin also doesn't generate cash flows, so a reserve would not help with paying interest on the debt in the future. The only "strategic" purpose Bitcoin could serve would be equivalent to that served by the US government's existing reserve assets, such as gold and foreign currency – which is to say, none." |
BTC price reaction - BTC price showed a mixed reaction, too. It surged to $106.8K but later slipped to $102K before bouncing again. The price action also followed Polymarket odds of the US BTC national reserve by 2025. The odds jumped above 70% before stabilizing above 60% as of this writing. |
Shiba Inu burn rates surge +600% - Will it boost SHIB's price recovery? |
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Key point |
SHIB burn rate soared 612% in the past 24 hours, a deflationary traction that could boost SHIB's recovery. Social volume and sentiment were still muted to warrant a strong reversal to the upside in the short term.
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News - In the past 24 hours, the SHIB burn rate increased to 612%, translating to 3.4 million incinerated tokens. While the deflationary trend was net positive for the meme coin's long-term value, key on-chain metrics still flagged bearish signs. |
SHIB burn rate - In January 2025, SHIB's burn rate picked a strong pace with major spikes on the 3rd and 18th. On both dates, 32M and 29.8M tokens were burnt per data from the Shib burn tracker. |
In fact, on the said dates, the memecoin's social volume and price increased. Simply put, the ongoing deflationary efforts could be net positive and bolster SHIB's long-term value. |
Unfortunately, at press time, SHIB's price appeared stuck in the broader cautious sentiment after the inauguration. The recent spike in burn rate was marked by negative weighted sentiment and muted social volume, suggesting a weak momentum and interest that couldn't be salvaged by burn rates alone.
For perspective, SHIB's daily chart price action cracked its multi-month trendline support, effectively reinforcing short-sellers as dominant market players. Despite overwhelming long positions on the Binance exchange at press time, SHIB wasn't out of the woods unless the broader altcoin sector recovered. |
Solana TVL expands +600% - Is $350 the next target for SOL? |
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Key points: |
Solana TVL growth hit 600% on an annual basis, signalling a maturing DeFi ecosystem. While still below ETH's TVL of $88B, will the network growth push SOL to $350?
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News - Solana's TVL (total value locked) increased from $1.4B in January 2024 to a record high of $12B in early 2025, per DeFiLlama. The Block data revealed that the record high for the TVL was $9.77B. On a year-on-year basis, this translated to a 600%-750% growth rate. |
Solana network growth - Solana's stellar TVL growth is dominated by Jito and Raydium. In fact, amongst the top four, Jito led with $3.8B. Raydium followed with $2.9B, while Jupiter and Kamino ranked third and fourth with $2.9B and $2.6B, respectively. |
For the unfamiliar, Jito is a liquid staking platform, while Raydium and Jupiter are DEXes (decentralized exchanges). Kamino is the only top-ranking lending and liquidity provider on Solana, which is equivalent to Ethereum's Aave. |
Since TVL tracks network activity growth and investor confidence, the massive expansion suggested increased DeFi traction and investor confidence in Solana. |
That being said, Solana's $12B TVL was 7x lower than ETH's TVL, which stood at $88B as of this writing. However, the increased DeFi activity could help Solana close the gap with time. |
Part of the recent growth was fueled by the Official Trump meme-coin. Over the last weekend, Solana's TVL surged from $9B to $12B, a $4B growth in just two days.
In the meantime, SOL topped an all-time high of $295 following the TRUMP meme craze. SOL could rally to $330-$350 if speculative interest explodes. The above level was the bullish target (1.618 Fib level) per the Trend-based Fibonacci Extension tool when measured from SOL's lows in September 2024 or June 2023. |
Is altcoin rally delayed? Key altcoin season index suggests… |
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Key points: |
A key altcoin momentum, the altcoin season index, has remained neutral since December. Bitcoin dominance surged from 55% to 58%, capping another potential altcoin run-up.
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News - It appears that the altcoin season will take a little longer than anticipated as key indicators remain uncertain. Apart from select altcoins like SOL and XRP, most altcoins have either been range-bound or dumping hard in January. |
When is the altcoin rally? - Unlike the November run-up that triggered an altcoin season when BTC printed a series of new highs, the recent all-time high of $109K didn't juice up the sector. |
AMBCrypto believes that the increase in BTC dominance (BTC.D) is a key roadblock for a renewed alt rally. To put things in perspective, the November altcoin pump, which saw XRP and HBAR top +500% gains, was marked by a sharp drop in BTC.D. |
Simply put, BTC profits rotated to the altcoin sector. This trend was also marked by a drop in USDT dominance (USDT.D) as speculators exchanged stablecoins for their favorite altcoin gems. Additionally, the altcoin season index soared to 88, reinforcing a strong alt momentum back then. |
But things have changed in January 2025. Since late December 2024, BTC.D has jumped from 55% to 58%. Similarly, USDT.D has remained tightly range-bound, suggesting most investors were cautious about entering the altcoin sector. |
So far, the cautious sentiment has kept the altcoin season index neutral, underscoring that it was neither a BTC nor an altcoin season. |
Given that next week's FOMC meeting will be the first one under the new Trump administration, perhaps a new market direction could be established after the interest rate decision. |
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More stories from the crypto ecosystem |
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Crypto scams uncovered |
On Thursday, Phemex, a Singapore-based crypto exchange, lost $70M to a breach most security analysts have linked to North Korean (NK) players. NK's Lazarus group is the most notorious and top security threat to crypto, having siphoned billions of crypto funds from CEXs and DeFi platforms. An insider behind the 'unofficial' Barron Trump meme coin, BARRON, raked in $1M in rugged funds. The user jumped on the official TRUMP and MELANIA trend and pushed the same for Trump's son, Barron. The insider later dumped $1M worth of BARRON, tanking the market from about $500M to nearly $7M at press time. This wrecked whales and retail holders who hoped to profit from the meme coin. According to security firm PeckShield, the total crypto funds lost to hacks in 2024 surpassed $3B. This marked a 15% increase compared to 2023, which saw $2.61B in lost funds, underscoring an uptick in scams last year. Interestingly, only 16% of the +3B lost has been recovered.
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Top 3 coins of the day |
Official Trump (TRUMP) |
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Key points: |
TRUMP has been holding above $30 after massive profit-taking after a wild +16,000% run in the past weekend. Daily trading volumes have dropped from an average of billions in USD to below $500M.
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What you should know: |
After a wild +16000% run during the past weekend (18-19 January), the official Trump memecoin (TRUMP) has erased over half of the gains. It tapped $77 before dumping below $50 afterward. Currently, the TRUMP plunge has stabilized above $30, which also doubled as a bullish order block (OB, cyan) and support on the 4-hour chart. While the slight RSI bounce above the neutral level implied slight renewed buying pressure and potential recovery, trading volume didn't lean on the bullish side. Compared to the initial daily trading volume, which averaged $2B on DEXes like Meteora, this has shrunk to <$200M since Wednesday. If the trading volume decline is extended, the $30 support could be breached. |
Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) |
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Key points: |
Fartcoin's pullback extended to 47% after tapping a record high of $2.74. But the pullback has hit a confluence area, which could trigger a rebound.
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What you should know: |
Fartcoin's pullback has hit a level that could be interesting for bulls to seek re-entry. After a nearly 50% plunge, the pullback has eased slightly at the confluence of the 50-day EMA (exponential moving average, orange) and daily bullish order block (cyan). This suggested that the $1.2 area could become an inflection point for a likely rebound. The daily RSI also inflected above the neutral level, further reinforcing the reversal outlook. If so, the immediate bullish target would be $2.1. However, a breach below $1.2 could embolden short-sellers to drag FARTCOIN to $0.8. |
Mantle (MNT) |
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Key points: |
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What you should know: |
Since Monday, MNT has rallied 32% and climbed above key moving averages, reinforcing a bullish market structure in the daily chart. Additionally, the daily RSI jumped above the neutral level, underscoring strong buying pressure in the past few days. Taken together, it suggested that MNT could attempt to push forward to the overhead hurdle at $1.4. But there was small caveat, the CMF still toiled below negative territory, indicating that the altcoin's capital inflows were below average. This could delay a potential blow-up above the $1.4 supply area, which also doubled as the March and December 2024 peak. In the meantime, MNT could fluctuate between $1 and $1.4 in the short term. However, a drop below $1 will invalidate the sideway structure projection. |
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