Today's News Highlights:
Musk plans to discuss with Trump the proposal to distribute $5,000 DOGE bonuses to every American taxpayer family.
Binance.US has resumed USD deposits, withdrawals, and trading services, which will gradually be opened to all users in the coming days.
Nigeria sues Binance, seeking $81.5 billion in economic damages and back taxes.
The "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" bill in Montana, USA, has passed committee review and is now in the voting stage in the House of Representatives.
PAIN: User refunds have been completed, and Harold's token share will be locked for 20 years.
Kaito AI will open KAITO token claims on February 20 at 20:00.
The Ethereum Foundation has launched the Open Intents Framework to promote cross-chain interoperability.
Coinbase adds tokenbot (CLANKER) to its listing roadmap.
About 86% of traders have incurred losses due to LIBRA, with total losses reaching approximately $251 million.
Regulation/Macro
According to Forbes, Musk stated on X (formerly Twitter) that he would consult President Trump about the "DOGE bonus" plan, which suggests using funds saved by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to provide a $5,000 tax rebate to every taxpayer family.
The proposal was put forward by James Fishback, CEO of investment firm Azoria, and aims to allocate 20% of the $2 trillion targeted savings from DOGE to subsidize approximately 79 million taxpayer families. As of this Monday, DOGE claims to have saved $55 billion, with funding sources including anti-fraud measures, contract cancellations, asset sales, and government spending cuts. Musk initially responded, "I will confirm with the President," but later added that the final decision rests with Trump.
According to an announcement from Binance.US, the platform has resumed USD (USD) deposits, withdrawals, and trading as of February 19, 2025, and will gradually open these services to all eligible users in the coming days.
The restored USD-related features include:
- USD deposits and withdrawals: Users can deposit or withdraw USD via bank accounts (ACH) with zero fees.
- Buying and selling cryptocurrencies with USD: Supports direct purchases of cryptocurrencies via bank transfers (ACH).
- USD and cryptocurrency swaps: Instant conversion between USD and cryptocurrencies.
- Resumption of 10 USD trading pairs: Including BTC/USD, XLM/USD, DOGE/USD, SOL/USD, ETH/USD, ADA/USD, HBAR/USD, SHIB/USD, SUI/USD, BNB/USD, with more trading pairs to be added in the future.
- Dollar-cost averaging feature: Supports automatic purchases of cryptocurrencies daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
Due to increased scrutiny from regulators, the exchange had suspended this (USD) service over two years ago (February 13, 2023).
Franklin Templeton launches tokenized U.S. Treasury fund for European investors
Franklin Templeton has announced the launch of the first fully tokenized U.S. Treasury fund in Luxembourg, providing European institutional investors with an opportunity to participate.
The fund is based on the Stellar Lumens (XLM) network and has been approved by Luxembourg regulators for use by institutional investors in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland.
eToro obtains Cyprus MiCA license to offer crypto services across the European Economic Area
eToro has announced that it has obtained a license under the European Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, allowing it to offer cryptocurrency trading and custody services in all 30 countries of the European Economic Area. The license was granted by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. MiCA regulations require companies to obtain a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license, which came into full effect in December 2023, establishing a unified legal framework for crypto services applicable to the 27 EU member states as well as non-EU countries like Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
U.S. SEC confirms receipt of 21Shares' proposal for staking in Ethereum ETF
Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, tweeted that the U.S. SEC has confirmed receipt of the 19b-4 filing submitted by Cboe, which seeks approval for staking features in the 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF.
Nigeria sues Binance, seeking $81.5 billion in economic damages and back taxes
According to Reuters, court documents show that Nigeria has filed a lawsuit seeking to compel Binance to pay $79.5 billion in economic damages, claiming these losses were caused by Binance's operations in Nigeria, along with $2 billion in back taxes. After the cryptocurrency site became the preferred platform for trading the local naira currency, authorities blamed Nigeria's currency crisis on Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and detained two of the company's executives in 2024.
According to the Satoshi Action Fund, the "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" bill in Montana, USA, has passed committee review and is now in the voting stage in the House of Representatives.
Previous news indicated that House Bill 429 in Montana will authorize the investment committee to invest up to $50 million in precious metals, digital assets with an average market capitalization exceeding $750 billion over the previous year, and stablecoins by July 15, 2025. These funds must be held by qualified custodians or through exchange-traded funds.
According to Jinshi, Trump stated: "I have signed an executive order to position the U.S. as a leader in artificial intelligence and to end the previous administration's 'crusade' against Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, marking the arrival of a new era for digital assets."
Financing
Asset packaging startup Universal completes $9 million financing, led by a16z
Universal has completed a $9 million financing round led by a16z. Universal aims to enhance asset access for developers and end users by enabling all types of crypto assets to be traded on crypto trading networks through deep liquidity. Since the launch of Universal Protocol, over $800 million in uAssets have been traded.
Fluent Labs completes $8 million financing, led by Polychain Capital
Blockchain developer Fluent Labs has announced the completion of an $8 million financing round led by Polychain Capital to build its Ethereum Layer 2 hybrid execution network. This financing also received support from several institutions, including Primitive, dao5, and Symbolic Capital, with notable angel investors such as Balaji Srinivasan and Mustafa Al-Bassam. Fluent plans to use these funds to expand its core engineering team and support the infrastructure development of its ecosystem and testnet.
Fluent aims to help developers seamlessly build applications across multiple blockchain ecosystems by integrating WebAssembly (Wasm), Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), and Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) into a unified execution environment.
Stablecoin liquidity provider Mansa completes $10 million seed round financing, led by Tether
According to TechCrunch, stablecoin liquidity provider Mansa has announced the completion of a $10 million seed round financing led by Tether. This round of financing includes both equity and debt financing, with Tether contributing $3 million in equity financing. The new funds will support the company's expansion into Latin America and Southeast Asia, regions where liquidity challenges have also limited cross-border transactions.
AI
Musk: Grok 3 will be available for free to all users in the short term
xAI tweeted that Grok 3 is now available for free (until the servers crash). X Premium+ and SuperGrok users will have more access to Grok 3, as well as early access to advanced features like voice mode. In response, Musk stated that Grok 3 will be available for free to all users in the short term.
Previous news indicated that Grok 3 is now available to all Premium+ subscribers.
Project Updates
OKX will launch KAITO (Kaito) spot trading pairs
According to an announcement from OKX, the platform will launch KAITO (Kaito), with the following schedule:
- Deposit opening time: February 19, 2025, 18:00 (UTC+8)
- Auction time: February 20, 2025, 20:00 - 21:00 (UTC+8)
- KAITO/USDT spot trading opening: February 20, 2025, 21:00 (UTC+8)
- Withdrawal opening time: February 21, 2025, 10:00 (UTC+8)
Kaito AI is building an AI-driven InfoFi network that enables the market to more effectively reallocate attention and capital while rewarding all participants.
Kaito AI will open KAITO token claims on February 20 at 20:00
The AI-based cryptocurrency data analysis platform Kaito AI will open KAITO claims on February 20 (Thursday) at 20:00 (UTC+8). The token economic model will be released before the claims open. KAITO token trading will officially launch on February 20 at 21:00 (UTC+8).
Plasma announces support for Tether's seamless cross-chain stablecoin USD₮0
According to an official announcement from Plasma, USD₮0 will be supported on the first day of its launch on the Plasma mainnet, enabling seamless connections with $141 billion USD₮ across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Tron, TON, and Arbitrum. USD₮0 is the core infrastructure of Tether's stablecoin, designed to provide solutions for cross-chain deployment and secure transfers, achieving zero-fee transfers.
Phemex hacker transfers some funds to Tornado Cash and other mixers
According to The Block, on-chain data shows that stolen funds from last month's Phemex vulnerability are being transferred. The hacker (or more likely a group of hackers) has begun splitting some of the ill-gotten gains into new addresses and transferring tokens to Tornado Cash.
According to a report from Swiss blockchain analytics firm Global Ledger, the hacker first transferred over 2,080 ETH (worth about $6 million) to 14 new addresses. The remaining ETH in the main Ethereum wallet associated with this attack is less than 4,000 ETH.
Similar to the initial hack of this Singapore exchange, the transfers appear to be coordinated by a group with extensive on-chain experience, involving multiple hops and interactions with various protocols and platforms. For example, a newly created wallet received 601.34 ETH in five separate transactions and then consolidated those funds into another new address on the cross-chain token bridge Across Protocol. These funds were further obfuscated when sent to a second Across address.
In addition to directly transferring to Tornado Cash and eXch mixers to anonymize funds, the hackers sometimes used platforms like Wintermute, DLN Trade Protocol, and THORChain to swap assets.
Global Ledger noted that while a small portion of the funds also flowed to platforms like OKX and CoinEx (which may be cashed out), most of the fund transfers utilized on-chain tools, such as Bitget's bridging service and ChangeNOW wallet.
The Ethereum Foundation launches Open Intents Framework to promote cross-chain interoperability
The Ethereum Foundation has announced the launch of the Open Intents Framework, a modular open-source framework for building and deploying intent product experiences. Developers can easily customize and deploy intent-based protocols using a set of modular abstractions (including solvers and composable smart contracts) without having to build intent infrastructure from scratch. The framework aims to facilitate cross-chain interoperability, supported by over 30 teams, simplifying the process for any chain to convey intents to users and improving the cross-chain user experience. The framework addresses key components such as solutions and settlements in a modular way, providing flexibility that allows developers to choose the most suitable parts according to their needs without relying on a single vendor.
Coinbase adds tokenbot (CLANKER) to its listing roadmap
According to an official announcement, Coinbase will add tokenbot (CLANKER) to its listing roadmap.
PAIN: User refunds have been completed, and Harold's token share will be locked for 20 years
The Solana chain meme coin PAIN tweeted that, as previously promised, 80% of the 185,976 SOL raised has been successfully refunded, and all funds sent after block 318346069 (i.e., the end of PAINSALE) have also been refunded. Harold's token share will be locked for 20 years, unlocking in 2045. According to the token economics, the total supply of PAIN is 10 million, with 50% allocated to Harold, 20% for presale, 15% for liquidity, 10% for the community, and 5% for collaborators.
Previous news indicated that PAIN stated that 80% refunds and airdrops will be automatically distributed to eligible wallets, and users do not need to claim manually.
Bithumb will launch KAITO in the Korean won market
According to an official announcement, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb will launch KAITO in the Korean won market.
Binance will remove some dual currency investment trading pairs
According to an official announcement, based on recent audit results, Binance will remove the following dual currency investment trading pairs on February 21, 2025, at 14:00 (UTC+8):
- ALGO: ALGO/USDT, ALGO/USDC
- ATOM: ATOM/USDT, ATOM/FDUSD, ATOM/USDC
Please note: After removal, users will not be able to subscribe to these trading pairs; existing subscriptions will not be affected and will settle normally at expiration.
OKX will launch KAITO leveraged trading, perpetual contracts, and simple earn
According to an official announcement, OKX will officially launch KAITOUSDT perpetual contracts on the web, app, and API at 22:00 (UTC+8) on February 20, 2025, and will launch KAITO leveraged trading and simple earn at 12:10 (UTC+8) on February 21, 2025.
The premium comparison at the time of the new contract launch is relatively unstable. To avoid unreasonable funding fee charges, the upper limit for calculating the funding rate before 00:00 (UTC+8) on February 21, 2025, will be 0.5%. After 00:00 (UTC+8) on February 21, 2025, the upper limit for calculating the funding rate will be adjusted back to the normal 1.5% [the actual funding fee collection time will be at 04:00 (UTC+8) on February 21, 2025]. If there are issues with price deviations for this contract, the funding rate will be adjusted accordingly based on market conditions.
zkLend has announced a compensation plan, with deposits in unaffected pools expected to receive full refunds, while deposits in affected pools will receive partial refunds and zkLend recovery pool claims. The withdrawal process is expected to begin within two weeks after the review of the recovery claims portal. Repayments will be fully paid from the available liquidity in each unaffected pool, and if a particular unaffected pool experiences a shortfall (due to relatively high utilization), the remaining liquidity from other unaffected pools will be used to cover the shortfall. All accumulated surpluses from unaffected funding pools will be liquidated and proportionally distributed to each affected funding pool, with partial repayments made based on the remaining liquidity in each funding pool plus such redistributed (socialized) surplus.
zkLend stated that after team donations, the total funding gap has been reduced to approximately $9,013,101.72323417.
Binance contract follow-up will add 50 USDT perpetual contracts
According to an official announcement, Binance contract follow-up will add the following USDT perpetual contracts on February 20, 2025, at 08:00 (UTC):
1MBABYDOGEUSDT, ACHUSDT, ACTUSDT, AGLDUSDT, ALPACAUSDT, ANIMEUSDT, API3USDT, ARKUSDT, AUCTIONUSDT, B3USDT, BAKEUSDT, BANUSDT, BERAUSDT, BIOUSDT, BSWUSDT, COWUSDT, EIGENUSDT, ETHFIUSDT, GLMUSDT, GOATUSDT, GPSUSDT, HEIUSDT, IOUSDT, IPUSDT, KASUSDT, LAYERUSDT, LISTAUSDT, MELANIAUSDT, MOODENGUSDT, PEOPLEUSDT, PIPPINUSDT, PNUTUSDT, POLUSDT, RENDERUSDT, RPLUSDT, SHELLUSDT, SPELLUSDT, SUSDT, SWELLUSDT, SYNUSDT, TAOUSDT, THEUSDT, TROYUSDT, TSTUSDT, USTCUSDT, USUALUSDT, UXLINKUSDT, VINEUSDT, VVVUSDT, XVSUSDT.
Opinions
Vitalik discusses Ethereum's positioning, Rollup scaling, centralized sequencers, and future roadmap
According to Vitalik Buterin's response on Warpcast, he believes that Ethereum serves as both a Bitcoin-like decentralized currency and can become a "world computer," emphasizing that decentralization and censorship resistance are core to Ethereum's long-term value.
Regarding the Rollup scaling roadmap, Vitalik stated that Ethereum currently adopts a mixed L1+L2 model but still needs to define which transactions are suitable for L1 and which for L2. He warned that putting everything on L2 could undermine ETH's status as a store of value and medium of exchange, while also struggling to meet the demands of cross-L2 operations.
On centralized sequencers, Vitalik believes they have advantages in preventing front-running, providing instant confirmations, and reducing the difficulty of applications going on-chain, but there are still issues of censorship resistance and decentralization. Therefore, he supports solutions based on Forced Inclusion and ZK/Optimistic mechanisms to balance efficiency and decentralization.
Regarding Ethereum 3.0, Vitalik clarified that there is currently no ETH 3.0 concept, but optimizations for L1 (increasing Gas Limit, Stateless Verification, enhancing cross-L2 interoperability, and Blob expansion) are still in progress. He pointed out that the issue of L2 paying insufficient L1 transaction fees should not be viewed in the short term and expects that as the Blob target increases from 3 to 128, the L1 fees contributed by L2 could reach 256,000 ETH annually.
Musk: "DOGE dividends" will not trigger inflation
According to Jinshi, Trump stated he is considering directly giving part of the savings from Musk's cost-cutting plan to Americans. James Fishback, co-founder of investment firm Azoria, suggested earlier this week on social media that the federal government should issue tax rebate checks based on the savings from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He proposed that Trump should work with Congress to establish a "DOGE dividend" or tax rebate check supported by $400 billion in funds, which is equivalent to 20% of the $2 trillion DOGE savings target.
It is reported that Musk's team is working to implement significant budget cuts and layoffs in federal agencies. Musk stated that "DOGE dividends" will not trigger inflation because the funds come entirely from spending cuts, and the beneficiaries are mostly taxpayers with a tendency to save. His goal of cutting $2 trillion in federal spending is the "ideal outcome."
Vitalik: Ethereum's priority should be improving interoperability between L2s
Vitalik Buterin stated during an AMA event that Ethereum's priority should be to improve interoperability between L2s, as there are not many stakeholders, and everyone has a common interest, making the process much simpler. Then it can scale up to do more cross-crypto interoperability, even from cryptocurrencies to fiat currencies.
Important Data
Pump.fun deposits 65,122 SOL to Kraken about 3 hours ago, worth approximately $10.97 million
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Pump.fun deposited 65,122 SOL to Kraken three hours ago, worth $10.97 million. So far this year, a total of 1,235,043 SOL has been transferred in, valued at $247.52 million. Overall, Pump.fun has profited 2,930,093 SOL, currently worth $495.36 million.
Trump's crypto project WLFI buys 200 million WLFI and about 548,000 SEI
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a multi-signature wallet created by Trump's crypto project World Liberty Finance (WLFI) has withdrawn 10 million USDC from Coinbase to purchase 200 million WLFI. They also spent 125,000 USDC to buy 547,990 SEI at an average price of $0.228.
According to Bloomberg, research firm Nansen reported that about 86% of traders incurred losses after investing in LIBRA, which was backed by Argentine President Javier Milei. The firm analyzed the winners and losers of the Libra token in a report, estimating the total losses from the Libra token at $251 million, while a few profitable traders collectively made $180 million.
Nansen researcher Nicolai Sondergaard wrote in a report analyzing over 15,000 crypto wallets with gains or losses exceeding $1,000: "We see very compelling on-chain evidence that a group of 'insiders' profited unilaterally from participating retail investors."
PAIN team-associated addresses sold tokens worth $2.53 million in the past 7 hours
According to @ai_9684xtpa monitoring, PAIN team-associated addresses have sold tokens worth $2.53 million in the past 7 hours. The address DjTrV…1a24a sold 107,212 PAIN at an average price of $23.66, tracing its funding source back to the team's presale-associated address, rather than the 20% holding address for airdrops, with the tokens being offloaded after three transfers.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
