Release Date: January 14, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team

In the past 24 hours, the crypto market has been fermenting across multiple dimensions. Mainstream topics focus on the trust controversies triggered by "reputation/sentiment financialization" products, as well as the risk spillover exposed by data platform mergers and the politician token rug pull incident; in terms of ecological development, Solana's new applications are accelerating experiments, Ethereum is heating up around "real-time execution" infrastructure, and the Perp DEX track continues to accelerate competition in mobile and liquidity.

I. Mainstream Topics

1. Zama to Conduct Token Sale on CoinList

The fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) project Zama announced that it will launch a public auction for the $ZAMA token through CoinList and other channels, using a sealed-bid Dutch auction mechanism. The total supply of the project is 11 billion tokens, with 8% (880 million tokens) available in this auction, and a floor FDV of $55 million.

The sale will be conducted in phases, with OG NFT holders enjoying a 2% priority subscription (January 15–20); CoinList will open an 8% auction (January 21–24); the remaining 2% will enter subsequent auctions (January 27–February 2). The TGE is expected on February 2, with 100% unlocking. Zama emphasizes that CoinList is only one of the bidding channels, and all successful bidders will transact at the same clearing price, rather than as independently priced separate sales. The project focuses on on-chain privacy, institutional-grade applications, and RWA scenarios.

Community reactions are notably polarized, with optimists recognizing the long-term potential of FHE and believing that the low FDV provides a "cost-effective" window, while the auction mechanism is seen as relatively fair; however, negative sentiment is more concentrated on short-term price performance, with the pre-sale price being too low leading to continued pressure in the pre-market (with a drop exceeding 13% at one point), and many complain that "the price keeps falling" and "woke up and it’s not x times." The CoinList participation experience has also been repeatedly mentioned. Overall sentiment is cautious, with market focus on the potential selling pressure brought by the 100% unlocking at TGE.

2. CoinGecko May Be Sold for $500 Million Valuation

According to an exclusive report by CoinDesk, the crypto data platform CoinGecko is considering a sale at an estimated valuation of around $500 million and has hired investment banks like Moelis as advisors. As a long-established data entry point, CoinGecko's monthly visits have dropped from 43.5 million in 2024 to 18.5 million in December 2025, with one core variable being the replacement of "data query demand" by AI tools. This potential sale is also seen as a continuation of the crypto merger wave and a reflection of the transformation pressure faced by data platforms.

The community's overall response is one of "surprise + positive evaluation." Many believe that growing from a price tracker to a "half billion business" is a strong commercial outcome, with some even joking, "Maybe I should buy one." Meanwhile, there are concerns focused on the traffic decline caused by AI impacts, as well as potential future consolidation, monopolization, or changes in product forms. However, overall, this seems more like a discussion of a "decent exit," also seen as one of the signals of industry consolidation.

3. NYC Token Controversy Continues to Ferment

Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched the meme coin $NYC, claiming that the token aims to combat anti-Semitism/anti-American sentiment while supporting blockchain education and youth innovation. The token quickly went live on Solana, with its market cap once soaring to $100–175 million, but the team soon removed liquidity (suspected rug pull), leading to a price crash and investor losses exceeding $2.5 million. On-chain analysis also points to signs of LP manipulation and insider trading, presenting a typical "politician token arbitrage" path.

Public opinion is overwhelmingly negative, generally viewing it as "one of the worst rugs," depicting Adams as a typical character who "promotes publicly and then runs away," with some even stating, "The FBI should arrest someone." Many discussions compare it to Trump/Melania-related tokens, focusing criticism on the regulatory gray area and harvesting risks brought by "power tokenization." Although a few posts attempt to emphasize its "educational theme," they are largely drowned out by accusations of fraud and harvesting, with strong and highly consistent sentiment: celebrity/politician coins carry high risks and require vigilance.

4. Lighter Launches Mobile App, Sparking Discussions on Whale Sell-offs

On-chain perpetual/spot DEX Lighter officially launched its iOS and Android mobile app, covering features such as perpetual contracts, RWA, and pre-sales, and initiated a mobile trading competition with a reward pool of 100,000 LIT, aiming to attract trading flow from CEX and enhance the on-chain trading experience. Meanwhile, the community is also paying attention to potential selling pressure: one entity withdrew nearly 10 million LIT (about $26 million) from LLP, with some already sold (about $4.7 million), accounting for about 4% of the circulating supply, leading to increased short-term price pressure.

Overall, the evaluation of the mobile launch is positive, with many viewing it as another validation of "perp DEX quietly rising," with the self-custody experience considered a key selling point; however, discussions around whale sell-offs have also brought noticeable FUD, such as reassessing "whether airdrop farming is still worth it" and concerns about liquidity absorption capacity. Some opinions suggest that the market has gradually digested the selling pressure and continues to be optimistic about its long-term potential (often compared to other perp DEXs). Overall, sentiment is neutral to positive, with focus on balancing self-custody advantages, growth paths, and liquidity challenges.

II. Mainstream Ecological Dynamics

1. Solana

The Solana ecological social token platform Believe App released the v2 beta iOS version, introducing a so-called "human emotion market" trading mechanism: users can perpetually bet on the rise and fall of personal reputation using the Believe/Doubt tokens. The first market corresponds to founder Ben Pasternak, with the current "belief value" at 62%. This market never settles and maintains a constant sum of Believe + Doubt at $1. The project team stated that initially, it will focus on "manually deploying high-profile individuals," with potential expansion to any X accounts and the introduction of a revenue-sharing mechanism. Overall, this version attempts to simplify the transition from memecoins to prediction markets through "real-time sentiment tracking."

Community feedback is notably negative, with intense emotions. The focus of the controversy is not the product design itself, but rather Ben Pasternak's historical behavior and trust issues: many mention his previous selling controversies in KLED-related projects, directly labeling him as "rug pull" and "clown show," and calling for avoidance of collaboration. Although a few voices recognize the innovative direction of "real-time sentiment/reputation pricing," they are quickly drowned out by ridicule and skepticism. Overall sentiment is one of outrage, with core issues centered on fairness, sustainability, and credible execution.

2. Ethereum

The ETHGas Foundation announced the launch of the governance token $GWEI, aimed at managing "real-time Ethereum" infrastructure, with the goal of alleviating delays and fluctuations caused by blind competition for block space. The project hopes to achieve a low-friction experience through a programmable block space market, including predictable execution, gasless UX, and pre-confirmations. TGE details will be announced soon, with the snapshot time set for January 19 at 00:00 UTC. The project disclosed that it has secured $12 million in funding from institutions like Polychain and claims to have block space commitments at the level of $80 billion.

Overall discussions are leaning positive, with market sentiment closer to an excited atmosphere around "Ethereum infrastructure-level narrative." Many users have begun sharing related links and referral information, with some discussions directly pointing to potential airdrop and distribution expectations; there are also a few cautious voices regarding its tokenization path and execution risks. However, the mainstream view still leans towards seeing this as a positive response to the issues of "transaction experience friction" and "execution certainty," extending the narrative of Ethereum's practicality.

3. Perp DEX

Competition in the Perp DEX track is further heating up. The new platform Markets (@kinetiq_xyz) showed strong performance on its first day: depth of about $1.6 million, spread of 0.14 bps, slippage of 0.07 bps, compared to TradeXYZ (depth of $1.8 million, spread of 0.39 bps, slippage of 0.19 bps) showing a better trading experience, with first-day trading volume exceeding $70 million. Meanwhile, the supply of stablecoin USDH reached a historical high of $76 million, believed to be related to the new demand brought by Markets.

Additionally, Cascade has also opened its final pre-allocation (January 21 at 12 PM ET, capped at $5 million, scaled proportionally), while Lighter launched its iOS/Android mobile app and initiated a mobile trading competition with a reward pool of 100,000 LIT (starting January 15). Another clue is that Kraken's Nado DEX set a new high of $1 billion in 24-hour trading volume.

The community is generally optimistic, with discussions focusing on "growth validation" and "competitive landscape reshaping." Markets is referred to as "flawless execution," seen as a direct challenger to TradeXYZ; USDH is viewed as an ecological beneficiary, further strengthening the PMF narrative; Cascade's distribution mechanism has sparked a lot of requests for invites and sharing; Lighter's mobile launch brings positive feedback of "on-chain trading experience aligning with CEX," but there is also some FUD around withdrawal/unlocking risks; Nado's $1 billion trading volume is seen as a reflection of Kraken's endorsement influence. Overall, the perp DEX track is entering a phase of "product availability + data uplift + traffic competition."

4. Others

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) launched the Markets lending platform, supported by Dolomite's backend, covering functions such as deposits, loans, and position management, emphasizing transparency and high-performance liquidity. The project is positioned towards institutional-grade applications, focusing on scenarios like RWA and stablecoins (e.g., USD1). Dolomite emphasizes its design capabilities in capital efficiency, virtual liquidity, modular architecture, and risk management, claiming it can serve as a key infrastructure for WLFI to bridge TradFi and DeFi.

Community discussions are generally positive, with many viewing it as a new node for "DeFi institutionalization," especially with expectations for Dolomite's positioning enhancement and potential TVL growth; some opinions compare it to a competitor of Aave and begin discussions around valuation and token logic. A few voices mention regulatory uncertainty, but it has not become dominant. Overall sentiment is optimistic, with key consensus being that the entry of institutional funds requires not only compliant narratives but also usable and stable lending underpinnings.

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