PA Daily News | a16z raises $15 billion, focusing on AI and crypto investments; Meme coin hits record market capitalization.

Today's top news highlights:

1. South Korea's Supreme Court rules that Bitcoin held in exchanges can be seized.

2. Following the release of the non-farm payrolls data, the probability of the Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates unchanged in January rose to 97.2%.

3. a16z completes $15 billion funding round, will focus on investing in AI and crypto.

4. Stablecoin payment company Rain completes a new round of financing of $250 million, bringing its post-money valuation to $1.95 billion.

5. In 2025, the total transaction volume of stablecoins reached a new high of $33 trillion, with USDC ranking first in transaction volume.

6. Meme coin's "I'm coming!" slogan hits a new market capitalization record, surging 63.4% in 24 hours.

Macro & Regulatory

South Korea's Supreme Court rules that Bitcoin held in exchanges can be seized.

In a ruling issued on December 11, 2025, the South Korean Supreme Court determined that Bitcoin stored on centralized exchanges falls under the category of assets subject to seizure under the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court upheld its decision to seize 55.6 Bitcoins held by a suspect in a money laundering investigation. The ruling considered Bitcoin to possess independent governance, tradability, and economic value. This ruling means that in South Korea, users who store Bitcoin on exchanges such as Upbit and Bithumb face clearer legal risks. Crypto assets related to suspected crimes can be directly frozen and seized on these exchanges, while the exchanges themselves will face greater pressure to quickly comply with search warrants and maintain strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and tracking systems.

French tax authorities may have leaked information about cryptocurrency holders.

According to Cryptopolitan, citing French media reports, a former French tax official may have abused her position to leak data on cryptocurrency holders, increasing the risk of physical attacks against this group. The former tax official, Ghalia C., has been sentenced for crimes including aiding and abetting organized crime and is currently appealing. Investigations revealed that she used her access to confidential tax databases to collect information on potential targets, including cryptocurrency investors, and may have leaked their location and capital gains data. While there is no evidence that she planned any actual attacks against cryptocurrency holders, this case highlights the risk that the tax system can be a source of data breaches. As European tax authorities increasingly tighten their monitoring of cryptocurrency assets, such information leaks could expose holders to greater security threats.

Grayscale HYPE ETF is registered in Delaware.

According to Delaware corporation registration information, Grayscale HYPE ETF was officially incorporated in Delaware on January 8, 2026, with registration number 10465863. The entity type is a statutory trust, the registered agent is CSC DELAWARE TRUST COMPANY, and the registered address is 251 LITTLE FALLS DRIVE, Wilmington, DE 19808.

Earlier today, it was reported that the Grayscale BNB ETF had completed its registration in Delaware .

Bank of New York Mellon launches tokenized deposits to expand its digital asset business.

Bank of New York Mellon has launched a tokenized deposit service that allows customers to transfer funds via blockchain, becoming the latest major global bank to delve deeper into the digital asset space. The company stated that this form of digital cash is an on-chain representation of deposits held in BNY Mellon customers' accounts at the bank. As BNY Mellon moves towards 24/7 operations, the service can be used for collateralized and margin trading and can accelerate payments. Customers participating in this new service include exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange, trading firms Citadel Securities and DRW Holdings, Ripple Prime (a subsidiary of Ripple Labs Inc.), asset management firm Baillie Gifford, and stablecoin company Circle.

US nonfarm payroll data for December fell short of expectations, and a slight decrease in the unemployment rate could not mask the deteriorating trend in the labor market.

According to Jinshi News, data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday showed that 50,000 jobs were added in December, lower than economists' forecasts of 60,000. The unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, compared to 4.6% in November. This data provides the most complete picture of the U.S. job market in months, after the November and October data were severely impacted by the government shutdown. The November job increase figure was revised down to 56,000 from an initial estimate of 64,000. This data release further confirms signs of a deteriorating labor market, impacted by federal government workforce cuts and a slowdown in private sector hiring. The Federal Reserve has lowered U.S. borrowing costs at its last three meetings, maintaining its benchmark target rate range at a three-year low of 3.5-3.75%. Fed Chair Powell hinted in December that the threshold for further rate cuts was high, stating that current borrowing costs were "in a good place." However, the weak December data may complicate the Fed's case for pausing its rate-cutting cycle at its next meeting later this month. The Federal Reserve also expressed concerns about the accuracy of recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Powell believes that the U.S. economy is adding 60,000 fewer jobs per month than the employment report claims.

Following the release of the non-farm payrolls data, the probability of the Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates unchanged in January rose to 97.2%.

According to Jinshi News, based on CME's "FedWatch": After the release of the non-farm payroll data, the probability of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in January is 2.8% (11.6% before the release), and the probability of keeping rates unchanged has risen to 97.2% (88.4% before the release). By March, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 32.3% (35.8% before the release), the probability of keeping rates unchanged is 66.8% (60.6% before the release), and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 0.9% (3.7% before the release).

Project Updates

A vulnerability discovered in the Babylon staking code may slow down block generation.

A newly disclosed software vulnerability in the Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon, disclosed in a GitHub post on Thursday, could allow malicious validators to disrupt parts of the network's consensus process, potentially slowing down block generation at critical times. The vulnerability affects Babylon's block signature scheme, the BLS voting extension scheme, which is used to prove that validators have reached an agreement on a block.

This vulnerability allows malicious validators to intentionally omit the block hash field when sending vote extensions, potentially leading to validator consensus issues during network epoch boundaries. The block hash field informs validators which blocks they are actually voting for during the consensus process, and this vulnerability allows this field to be omitted. Theoretically, through this vulnerability, a malicious validator could crash other validators during critical consensus checks at epoch boundaries, causing a slowdown in block generation if multiple validators are affected. There are currently no descriptions of this vulnerability being actively exploited, but developers warn that it could be abused if left unaddressed.

Binance Wallet launches exclusive Unitas (UP) Booster and Token Offering (TGE) events.

According to the official announcement, Binance has launched two exclusive events for Unias within the Binance Wallet: 1. Booster Event: By completing phased tasks and supporting the early development of the project, users can share a 30,000,000 UP token airdrop reward. 2. Token Issuance Event (TGE): Eligible users can have priority to subscribe to the Unias token UP before it is listed for trading.

The Unitas Binance Wallet Booster event will begin on January 12, 2026 at 18:00 (UTC+8). A total of 16,000,000 tokens (1.6% of the total token supply) will be unlocked on the day of the Token Generation Event (TGE) during the Booster event; the remaining tokens will be distributed proportionally in each phase. All Binance Wallet users (without private keys) holding sufficient Binance Alpha Points are eligible to participate. Participation in this event will consume 5 Binance Alpha Points.

Unitas Issuance Event (TGE) Details: During the exclusive TGE period, users can exclusively subscribe to the Unitas token UP within their Binance Wallet. The subscription uses an oversubscription model, with each user depositing a maximum of 3 BNB. Token allocation is based on the proportion of total BNB deposited by all participants. After the subscription ends, users can claim their UP tokens on the [Assets] page; any unused BNB will be automatically refunded. About the TGE phases: Phase 1: BNB Deposit Subscription Eligible users can participate by depositing up to 3 BNB during the subscription period. Please ensure that the total deposit amount for a single user does not exceed the maximum limit. Phase 2: Token Distribution (Non-Tradable) After the subscription ends, users will receive their corresponding token allocation based on the final calculation results. The tokens will be issued to user accounts, but they will be non-tradable until the official launch date announced by the project team. Phase 3: Binance Alpha Open Trading After the token is officially listed, users can freely exchange the distributed tokens on Binance Alpha.

Grayscale BNB ETF completes registration in Delaware

Grayscale has officially registered a Binance Coin (BNB)-based ETF entity (in the form of a Delaware statutory trust) in Delaware, USA. This is an important preliminary step towards a potential future BNB ETF investment product. No specific launch timeline or regulatory approval progress has been announced yet.

Pump.fun co-founder: Will adjust creator fee mechanism

Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen stated that the Creator Fees mechanism needs adjustment. He explained that the Dynamic Fee V1, launched a few months ago, was designed to incentivize project founders and teams to launch tokens on Pump.fun, and its effects were significant. Many new creators began launching tokens on the platform and live-streaming, creating the best on-chain environment of 2025, with transaction volume doubling.

However, this model is unsustainable and exposes key problems within the platform. It incentivizes low-risk activities (such as token creation) rather than high-risk activities (such as trading). For ordinary meme coin deployers, the fee mechanism has failed to significantly change behavior, resulting in a lack of utility for creator fees (such as sending fees to relevant celebrities to boost the community). Alon Cohen claims that major changes are coming soon, with more build content to be released.

Binance Alpha will list CharacterX (CAI) on January 12th.

According to an official announcement, Binance Alpha will list CharacterX (CAI) on January 12th. Eligible users can claim the airdrop using Binance Alpha Points on the Alpha event page after trading opens on Alpha. Further details will be announced separately.

Analysis & Opinions

Yi Lihua: I panicked and sold off my SOL shares, missing out on a potential 15-fold increase later. Patience is crucial for investing.

Liquid Capital founder Jack Yi (易理华) wrote on the X platform: "Most of the time in investing is waiting. It's not just about being right to buy at the bottom, but also about having the patience to see the final result. Our secondary team released a research report on SOL on July 26, 2023, and completed the position building around $20. At that time, we were very optimistic about the SOL ecosystem and its undervalued value. However, later, news about FTX share OTC kept appearing, and we panicked and quickly cleared our position below $50, perfectly missing the subsequent maximum 15x increase. Investing and trading seem easy, but the beginning, process, and result are the most difficult things. It is a huge test against human nature. Apart from those who talk big and coin commentators who are always right about the rise and fall, no one can know how short-term fluctuations will be or how long the waiting process will take."

Vitalik strongly supports Tornado Cash developers and condemns treating code as a criminal act.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin released a letter of support on Friday, strongly endorsing Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm. Storm is currently awaiting sentencing in the United States after being convicted of conspiracy to transfer funds in August. Buterin believes the prosecution targets the software development process itself, not the direct financial harm it caused. He sees privacy tools like Tornado Cash as a necessary defense against systemic data exploitation, and revealed that he has used software developed by Storm to purchase technical tools and support human rights charities, and that the data has not been recorded by businesses or governments.

Buterin stated that he has always supported Storm's work, both because he firmly believes in the importance of privacy and because he is an active user of privacy tools. Unlike some who profit in the name of privacy and develop flashy but impractical software, Storm's applications can still function normally even after years of neglect, making him more respectable than many "consumer tech" companies. Furthermore, Buterin places the Storm case within the broader debate on data protection, pointing out that privacy protection should be a fundamental infrastructure, not a niche issue, and that modern privacy tools aim to perpetuate protective measures implemented before the widespread adoption of digital surveillance.

VanEck predicts Bitcoin's price in 2050: Optimistically, it could reach $53.4 million.

Global asset management firm VanEck predicts that, under a more optimistic scenario, the price of Bitcoin could reach $53.4 million per coin by 2050. During this so-called "Bitcoin hyper-growth" period, Bitcoin will become a key component of global and domestic trade settlements. The firm's base case forecast is $2.9 million by 2050; in a bear market scenario, the price would be only $130,000.

Investment and Financing

Stablecoin payment company Rain has completed a new funding round of $250 million, bringing its post-money valuation to $1.95 billion.

According to Bloomberg, stablecoin payment company Rain announced the completion of a new $250 million funding round, valuing the company at $1.95 billion post-money. The round was led by ICONIQ, with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Dragonfly, Bessemer, Lightspeed, and Galaxy Ventures. This brings Rain's total funding to over $338 million.

Farooq Malik, co-founder and CEO of Rain, stated that the funds will be used to expand its operations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and to help the company adapt to the rapidly changing global regulatory environment. Rain currently issues stablecoin payment cards in over 150 countries through a partnership with Visa, allowing cardholders to make purchases at local merchants or withdraw cash from ATMs. The company also plans to integrate with payment systems such as the US ACH and the European SEPA through partner financial institutions. Malik mentioned that the company may pursue strategic acquisitions in the future, having already acquired rewards platform Uptop and currency conversion platform Fern in the past year.

a16z completes $15 billion funding round, will focus on investing in AI and crypto.

According to its official blog, a16z announced it has just completed raising over $15 billion in funding. This funding includes: the American Dynamism Fund ($1.176 billion), the Apps Fund ($1.7 billion), the Bio+Health Fund ($700 million), the Infrastructure Fund ($1.7 billion), the Growth Fund ($6.75 billion), and other venture capital strategy funds ($3 billion). The announcement states its mission is to ensure America wins the technological competition over the next 100 years, focusing on winning key architectures such as AI and encryption. Furthermore, it will promote the application of these technologies in fields such as biology, health, defense, public safety, education, and entertainment.

Sources familiar with the matter say Tether's investment in Ledn is approximately $40 million to $50 million, valuing the company at around $500 million.

According to CoinDesk, when stablecoin issuer Tether announced a "strategic investment" in Ledn last November, it chose to keep the details confidential. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that Tether actually paid between $40 million and $50 million in the investment. Ledn is a company that provides fiat and stablecoin loans backed by Bitcoin, and this investment valued Ledn at approximately $500 million.

Important data

In 2025, the total trading volume of stablecoins reached a new high of $33 trillion, with USDC ranking first in trading volume.

According to Bloomberg, Artemis data shows that total stablecoin trading volume surged 72% in 2025, reaching a record high of $33 trillion. USDC, developed by Circle, stood out with a trading volume of $18.3 trillion, while USDT, issued by Tether, saw a trading volume of $13.3 trillion. Despite the increase in total stablecoin trading volume in 2025, the share of trading volume on decentralized cryptocurrency platforms declined, indicating that stablecoins are becoming more widely used in the mainstream market.

By market capitalization, Tether's USDT is the world's largest stablecoin, with a circulating supply of $187 billion, far exceeding Circle Internet Group Inc.'s USDC (market capitalization of $75 billion). However, Artemis data shows that USDC dominates transaction volume. Furthermore, stablecoin transaction volume reached a record $11 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared to $8.8 trillion in the third quarter. According to Bloomberg Intelligence analysis, total stablecoin payment volume could reach $56 trillion by 2030.

BlackRock transferred approximately 2,405 BTC and 24,760 ETH to Coinbase Prime.

According to Solid Intel, BlackRock transferred approximately 2,405 BTC (worth $217 million) and 24,760 ETH (worth $76.6 million) to a Coinbase Prime escrow address.

Data: Large Bitcoin investor holdings saw the fastest decline since early 2023.

CryptoQuant reported on its X platform that addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC saw a year-over-year decrease of 220,000 BTC, the fastest decline since early 2023. Historical data shows a similar pattern occurred in 2021-2022 before prices peaked.

BNB Chain incentive program has already purchased $50,000 worth of $人生 and $踏马 respectively.

According to a BNB Chain announcement, the BNB Chain Foundation wallet made new asset purchases in the "$100 million incentive plan", including $50,000 for $人生 (Life) and $50,000 for $踏马 (I'm here).

A whale that held 101,000 ETH for five years recently transferred over 40,000 ETH to exchanges, realizing a profit of $204.9 million.

According to on-chain analyst Ember, a whale/institution that had held 101,000 ETH for five years at an average cost of only $660 transferred 40,251 ETH ($124 million) to the Bitstamp exchange in the past day. The most recent transaction was an hour ago, when 26,000 ETH ($80.16 million) were transferred to Bitstamp.

Five years ago, the company accumulated 101,000 ETH from Binance and Bitstamp at an average price of $660. Of these, 75,200 ETH ($254 million) have been transferred to exchanges at an average price of $3,383. This means that this portion of ETH has yielded a profit of $204.9 million. The company currently holds 26,000 ETH.

Meme Coin's "I'm coming!" slogan sparks a new market capitalization record, surging 63.4% in 24 hours.

Market data shows that the market capitalization of Meme coin "I'm coming" reached a record high of $28.1 million, and is currently trading at $25.8 million, up 63.4% in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $250 million yesterday, marking the fourth consecutive day of net outflows.

According to SoSoValue data, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $250 million yesterday (January 9th, Eastern Time).

The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest single-day net inflow yesterday was the Fidelity ETF FBTC, with a single-day net inflow of $7.8655 million. The current total historical net inflow of FBTC is $11.722 billion.

The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest single-day net outflow yesterday was BlackRock ETF IBIT, with a net outflow of $252 million. IBIT's total historical net inflow has reached $62.406 billion.

As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $116.857 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio (market capitalization as a percentage of Bitcoin's total market capitalization) of 6.48%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $56.403 billion.

Ethereum spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $93.8151 million yesterday, marking the third consecutive day of net outflows.

According to SoSoValue data, the Ethereum spot ETF saw a total net outflow of $93.8151 million yesterday (January 9th, Eastern Time).

The Ethereum spot ETF with the largest single-day net outflow yesterday was the BlackRock ETF ETHA, with a single-day net outflow of $83.7783 million. The current total historical net inflow of ETHA is $12.718 billion.

The second largest outflow was from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE), which saw a net outflow of $10.0368 million in a single day. ETHE's total historical net outflow has now reached $5.141 billion.

As of press time, the Ethereum spot ETF has a total net asset value of $18.699 billion, an ETF net asset ratio (market capitalization as a percentage of Ethereum's total market capitalization) of 5.04%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $12.434 billion.

According to the official announcement, Binance has launched two exclusive events for Unias within the Binance Wallet: 1. Booster Event: By completing phased tasks and supporting the early development of the project, users can share a 30,000,000 UP token airdrop reward. 2. Token Issuance Event (TGE): Eligible users can have priority to subscribe to the Unias token UP before it is listed for trading.

The Unitas Binance Wallet Booster event will begin on January 12, 2026 at 18:00 (UTC+8). A total of 16,000,000 tokens (1.6% of the total token supply) will be unlocked on the day of the Token Generation Event (TGE) during the Booster event; the remaining tokens will be distributed proportionally in each phase. All Binance Wallet users (without private keys) holding sufficient Binance Alpha Points are eligible to participate. Participation in this event will consume 5 Binance Alpha Points.

Unitas Issuance Event (TGE) Details: During the exclusive TGE period, users can exclusively subscribe to the Unitas token UP within their Binance Wallet. The subscription uses an oversubscription model, with each user depositing a maximum of 3 BNB. Token allocation is based on the proportion of total BNB deposited by all participants. After the subscription ends, users can claim their UP tokens on the [Assets] page; any unused BNB will be automatically refunded. About the TGE phases: Phase 1: BNB Deposit Subscription Eligible users can participate by depositing up to 3 BNB during the subscription period. Please ensure that the total deposit amount for a single user does not exceed the maximum limit. Phase 2: Token Distribution (Non-Tradable) After the subscription ends, users will receive their corresponding token allocation based on the final calculation results. The tokens will be issued to user accounts, but they will be non-tradable until the official launch date announced by the project team. Phase 3: Binance Alpha Open Trading After the token is officially listed, users can freely exchange the distributed tokens on Binance Alpha.