On January 22, 2026, the strategic cooperation between Pundi AI and Presens Network coincided with the launch of the Alpha FIGHT airdrop and ELSAUSDT perpetual contract by Binance, bringing two previously parallel narratives onto the same timeline: one side attempts to transform real-world human activities into machine-readable data for network expansion, while the other side, the centralized exchange, continues to amplify the speculative attraction through enhanced points systems, airdrops, and high-leverage derivatives. The simultaneous upgrade of infrastructure and the betting table inevitably raises a question: in the next cycle, will the core focus be on underlying construction centered around data and computing power, or on the speculative feast represented by points, airdrops, and high leverage, which is currently dominating the attention and capital flow of market participants?
A Real-World "Sensor Network" with 20,000 Nodes in 141 Countries
● Network Scale and Geographic Distribution: According to official data, Presens Network has covered 141 countries, deploying approximately 20,000 Pulse nodes, and has established around 80,000 existing locations globally. This indicates that it is not just a conceptual "sensor network," but has formed dense physical touchpoints in the real world. Such a scale of deployment enables it to continuously capture human activity trajectories and environmental information from multiple regions and scenarios, laying the groundwork for subsequent data on-chain and calls.
● Technical Vision and AI Training Value: Presens aims to "transform human activities into machine-readable data," essentially building a data collection and labeling layer for AI in the real world. For AI model training, behavior data from different countries and scenarios can provide more diverse inputs with temporal and spatial dimensions for recommendation systems, predictive models, and intelligent agents. Within the boundaries of data privacy and compliance, if this data can be structured and standardized for output, its value for large models and vertical AI applications will far exceed that of single on-chain transaction data.
● Pundi AI's Motivation: Pundi AI was previously positioned as a decentralized AI data layer, but purely doing "data protocols" on-chain can easily fall into the trap of lacking high-quality data entry points. Connecting to networks like Presens, which have already deployed nodes in the real world, effectively opens up the first half of the channel from "terminal perception" to "data on-chain" for the decentralized AI data layer. For Pundi AI, this is about finding real-world scenarios and long-term sustainable data source entry points for its data layer, thus avoiding merely doing secondary processing of second-hand and third-hand data on-chain.
Pundi AI Partners with Presens: A Closed-Loop Imagination from Protocol to Scenario
● Completing the Decentralized AI Data Layer: Pundi AI's past focus has been on building a decentralized AI data layer, specifically how to govern, store, and distribute data on-chain, allowing models and data providers to interact through incentive and permission mechanisms. However, in data collection, it relies more on external sources. The collaboration with Presens allows Pundi AI to simultaneously strengthen both "data collection" and "data distribution," potentially extending its role from a single on-chain protocol to a part of the data infrastructure that spans "collection—on-chain—calling."
● Possible Closed Loop of Cooperation: If the capabilities of both parties are combined, one can imagine a path like this: terminal perception devices collect human activity data through Presens's Pulse nodes → data is pre-processed and filtered, verified on-chain or off-chain → Pundi AI's decentralized data layer is responsible for indexing, permission control, and incentive distribution → upper-layer AI models and applications call this data through standardized interfaces. In this closed loop, node operators, data contributors, and model users all have the opportunity to receive incentives through tokens or other means, forming a multi-party participatory economic network.
● Market Expectations and Suspense of Doubt: The current market is filled with expectations for the "AI + on-chain infrastructure" narrative, but there are also widespread doubts: is on-chain data really a necessity for AI, or just another round of hype? The cooperation between Pundi AI and Presens provides a model of "real data on-chain + decentralized distribution," but whether this can translate into real model call volumes and sustainable fee income remains a key unresolved issue. Whether this cooperation can ultimately prove that "on-chain data is a true necessity" will become an important observation point for assessing the value of the entire AI infrastructure narrative.
Binance Alpha and FIGHT: Points, Airdrops, and Traffic Binding Techniques
● Alpha Airdrop Gameplay Rules: Beyond the infrastructure narrative, on the same day, Binance launched FIGHT-related gameplay under its Alpha system. Alpha users need to hold at least 231 Alpha points to claim 2,000 FIGHT airdrop slots, consuming 15 points in the process. This design combines "threshold" and "consumption." On one hand, it raises participation standards to filter for more engaged users; on the other hand, it creates a self-circulating system through point consumption, maintaining activity and scarcity within the Alpha ecosystem.
● Synergy of Points System and Custom Networks: Recently, Binance has been iterating around Alpha points and custom networks, with the underlying logic being to lock in active users who are highly sensitive to new coins and features through a comprehensive points and task system. Users need to continuously participate, trade, and interact to obtain airdrops and early allocations; meanwhile, project parties gain initial exposure and traffic entry by binding with Alpha. In an environment where new coin supply and user attention are increasingly scarce, this combination of "points + airdrops + product features" is reconstructing the binding methods between exchanges and users.
● Self-Narrative of Centralized Platforms: While decentralized data networks tell the story of "data as fuel," centralized exchanges take the logic of "traffic as fuel" to the extreme through Alpha, airdrops, and points. Binance not only tells the "early opportunity" narrative by introducing new assets like FIGHT but also continuously stacks gameplay at the product level, creating path dependence for users in point acquisition, airdrop participation, and trading mining. In other words, while infrastructure is still being laid, exchanges have already built a complete narrative and moat for themselves along the roadside.
20x ELSA Perpetual: Layered Intensification in the Derivatives Battlefield
● Contract Launch and Positioning: Beyond spot and points systems, Binance Futures launched the ELSAUSDT perpetual contract on the same day, offering up to 20x leverage, officially positioned to "meet professional trading needs." From a product matrix perspective, such new contracts often correlate with new spot listings and market hotspots, providing a channel for users accustomed to contract trading to participate in new targets while amplifying opportunities and risks brought by price fluctuations on the strategy side.
● Risk Curve and Participant Game: From a design logic standpoint, 20x leverage is sufficient to turn a single market movement into significant fluctuations in account net value. For retail investors, high leverage means that a small margin can control a larger position, but it also makes them vulnerable to rapid liquidation during short-term fluctuations; for more professional traders, such contracts provide more tools for hedging, arbitrage, and directional betting. Leading exchanges continuously enrich the targets and leverage ranges on new contracts, effectively expanding their own risk curves, allowing users with different risk preferences and capital sizes to find their place in the same derivatives battlefield.
● Intensifying Competition in Derivatives: When comparing the ELSAUSDT perpetual with other recently launched contracts, one can observe a competitive trend among leading platforms—whoever can capture new themes and assets faster can launch corresponding contract products in a timely manner, seizing trading volume and capital attention. For Binance, continuously launching new perpetual contracts like ELSA not only enriches the product line but also competes with similar platforms for pricing power over "new narrative assets," making derivatives one of its main battlegrounds for intensified competition.
$16 Million 20x Long: The Ultimate Adventure of Whales
● Portrait of Aggressive Positions: In the derivatives space, reports show that a certain whale currently holds approximately $16 million in BTC long positions with 20x leverage, with an entry price of about $89,985. This position means that its nominal exposure has been amplified to several hundred million dollars by leverage, and any moderate price pullback could pose a substantial threat to the position's safety. Such high leverage combined with a large principal makes this whale a typical slice of the current market's extreme risk appetite.
● Risk Preference for High Leverage: More notably, the entry price of this position is already close to a peak range, yet the whale still chooses to further amplify leverage to go long. This behavior reflects that some large funds maintain a strong optimistic outlook for the future, willing to bear severe volatility and potential drawdowns. While infrastructure projects are still laying networks and refining products, on the other end, there are funds willing to bet on short-term trends with 20x leverage at high levels; this tension itself is a microcosm of the current market sentiment.
● Infrastructure Narrative vs. Contract Carnival: Comparing the infrastructure construction line represented by Pundi AI + Presens with the high-leverage carnival line represented by Binance contracts and whale positions, a clear tilt in funding behavior can be observed: the former requires long cycles, heavy investment, and patience, with uncertain and slow returns; the latter provides immediate profit and loss feedback and quantifiable volatility opportunities. In the absence of a clear profit model and user scale data, more funds still tend to flow into the short-term speculative contract market rather than settle in long-term construction-type assets, which is a structural reality of the current crypto market.
Infrastructure vs. Betting Table: The Choice in the Second Half of Crypto
Pundi AI and Presens are attempting to build a decentralized data foundation around "human activity data—on-chain data layer—AI model calls," while Binance is trying to keep users' attention and funds as much as possible within its trading and derivatives system through products like Alpha points, FIGHT airdrops, and 20x ELSAUSDT perpetual contracts. These two paths represent one betting on the long-term dividends of data and computing power infrastructure, while the other amplifies liquidity, leverage, and the immediate stimulation of short-term trading heat.
If in the coming years, the narrative of data and computing power infrastructure represented by Pundi AI and Presens can truly deliver—nodes remain active, data is massively called by AI models, and the protocol layer can stably generate income—then this infrastructure is expected to become the long-term value support behind current high-risk trading behaviors, ensuring that the "betting table" is no longer just about emotions and stories. However, if these narratives ultimately fail to materialize, lacking real demand and cash flow support, the market will likely continue to revert to the short-term gambling logic centered around contracts and high leverage in the cycle of volatility, with narrative cycles being repeatedly replaced by "the next hot topic."
Next, key indicators to focus on include: the actual long-term activity changes of Presens's 20,000 Pulse nodes and 80,000 existing locations, the rhythm and scale of Pundi AI in product implementation and data calls, as well as the evolution of high leverage utilization, liquidation scale, and user structure in Binance's derivatives sector. These data will collectively determine whether the infrastructure can truly establish a foothold, or if, for a longer time, the betting table will remain the protagonist of this game.
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