PA Daily News | Ledger plans New York IPO, valued at over $4 billion; TikTok announces US plan: ByteDance retains algorithm intellectual property rights.

Today's top news highlights:

The SEC and CFTC will hold a joint event on "Regulatory Collaboration" on crypto on January 27 at 11 p.m.

Hardware wallet company Ledger plans to IPO in New York, with a potential valuation of over $4 billion.

BitGo shares rose approximately 20% on its first day of trading on the NYSE, with its valuation reaching a peak of $2.6 billion during the session.

CZ: AI will make you unemployed, encryption will make you not need to work.

TikTok officially announced its US plan: joint operation by the two companies, with ByteDance retaining intellectual property rights to the algorithm.

Fintech and asset tokenization company Superstate raises $82.5 million in Series B funding.

The 21Shares spot DOGE ETF, backed by the Dogecoin Foundation, is listed on Nasdaq.

Analysis: Bitcoin is in a deep bear market relative to gold, and historical data suggests the downtrend may continue.

Regulation & Macro

The SEC and CFTC will hold a joint event on "Regulatory Collaboration" on crypto on January 27 at 11 p.m.

According to an announcement on the SEC's official website, SEC Chairman Atkins and CFTC Chairman Selig will host a public event, "SEC-CFTC Harmonization," at CFTC headquarters on January 27th from 11:00 PM to 12:00 AM (UTC+8) to discuss coordination between the two agencies and their efforts to fulfill President Trump's promise to make the United States the world's cryptocurrency capital. The event will be moderated by Eleanor Terrett. It will be open to the public at CFTC headquarters and will be webcast live on the SEC website. No registration is required to participate online.

The final reading of the US third-quarter core PCE price index was 2.9% annualized quarterly, in line with expectations.

According to Jinshi News, the final reading of the US Q3 core PCE price index annualized quarterly rate was 2.9%, in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous reading of 2.90%. The final reading of the US Q3 real GDP annualized quarterly rate was 4.4%, in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous reading. Initial jobless claims in the US for the week ending January 17 were 200,000, lower than the expected 210,000 and the previous week's figure revised from 198,000 to 199,000. Later news indicated that the US November core PCE price index annualized rate was 2.8%, in line with expectations.

The Bank of Japan kept its interest rate unchanged at 0.75%, in line with market expectations.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.75%, in line with market expectations. The decision was approved by an 8-1 vote. BOJ policy board member Hajime Takada dissented, arguing that the price stability target had been largely achieved and that, given the ongoing recovery of overseas economies, the risks to Japanese prices were skewed to the upside. He proposed raising the short-term interest rate target from 0.75% to 1.0%. The BOJ stated that its median core CPI forecasts for fiscal years 2025-2027 are 2.7%, 1.9%, and 2.0%, respectively (up from 2.7%, 1.8%, and 2.0% in October last year). Its median real GDP growth forecasts for fiscal years 2025-2027 are 0.9%, 1.0%, and 0.8%, respectively (up from 0.7%, 0.7%, and 1.0% in October last year). The BOJ will continue to raise policy rates if economic and price trends align with its forecasts and as the economy and prices improve.

Trump: If Europe sells off US bonds and other assets, it will face massive retaliation.

According to Jinshi News, US President Trump stated that if Europe sells off US bonds and other assets, it will face large-scale retaliation.

Later reports indicated that Trump would impose a 25% tariff on all countries trading with Iran .

India has banned the trading of privacy coins and required crypto platforms to remove anonymous tokens.

According to The Economic Times, India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), under the Ministry of Finance, has ordered domestic cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms to cease offering Anonymity Enhancement Tokens (ACEs), prohibiting deposits and withdrawals of these tokens, and classifying them as "unacceptable assets" under a risk mitigation framework. The FIU also warned that mixing tokens using tools like "tumblers" and "mixers," as well as transferring funds to self-custodial wallets, could allow funds from sanctioned or blacklisted addresses to enter the system, making them difficult to trace. Platforms are required to collect data related to non-custodial wallets and assess whether to set limits on such transfers.

The Shenzhen People's Procuratorate has filed a public prosecution against Sui Guangyi and 30 others from Dingyifeng.

According to the official WeChat account of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Procuratorate, after legal review, the Shenzhen Municipal People's Procuratorate has filed a public prosecution with the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court of Guangdong Province against 30 defendants, including Sui Guangyi and Ma Xiaoqiu, for crimes including fundraising fraud, illegally absorbing public deposits, and money laundering, involving Shenzhen Dingyifeng Asset Management Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Dingyifeng International Holdings Group Co., Ltd., and their affiliated companies in Shenzhen and other places. The prosecution has been charged with crimes such as fundraising fraud, illegally absorbing public deposits, and money laundering. Previously, the Futian Branch of the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a notice stating that "Dingyifeng" and its affiliated companies issued fake wealth management products and "DDO digital options" (a type of "air coin"), engaging in illegal activities, and were suspected of committing crimes. A number of assets, including real estate, vehicles, equity, and bank account funds of "Dingyifeng" and its affiliated companies, have been seized, detained, and frozen.

Project Updates

TikTok officially announced its US plan: joint operation by the two companies, with ByteDance retaining intellectual property rights to the algorithm.

According to a report by Yicai Global, TikTok announced the establishment of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. This joint venture will be responsible for data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software security for TikTok in the United States. The announcement stated that HKD 500, Silver Lake, and MGX each hold 15% of the shares in the joint venture. Other investors include Vastmere Strategic Investment LLC (an affiliate of SIG International Group), Alpha Wave Partners, and several other companies. ByteDance retains a 19.9% ​​stake, remaining the largest single shareholder. The joint venture will be managed by a seven-member board of directors, including TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.

Nasdaq has applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to remove position limits for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF options.

According to Cointelegraph, Nasdaq has filed a request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to change its rule, aiming to remove position limits on options contracts linked to a basket of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. Previously, there was a cap of 25,000 contracts for these options. Nasdaq argues that this move would treat digital asset options the same as other eligible listed options, eliminating unequal treatment without compromising investor protection. The proposal was submitted on January 7 and took effect on Wednesday. The SEC waived the standard 30-day waiting period, allowing the rule change to take effect immediately, but retained the power to suspend the change within 60 days if deemed necessary. The SEC has opened a comment period for the proposal, with a final decision expected in late February, unless the rule is suspended for further review.

Anthropic releases 80-page "Claude Constitution" and upgrades its AI alignment framework.

Anthropic, a large AI model company, recently released a new version of its "Claude Constitution" under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 license. This new constitution serves as the "supreme authority" for training, generating synthetic training data and ranking feedback. Instead of simply listing principles, it explains "why" to improve generalization to new scenarios. The document is ordered by broad safety > broad ethics > adherence to guidelines > genuine assistance, listing "hard constraints" (such as not providing substantial assistance in biological weapons development) and adding chapters on virtues, psychological safety, and model self-awareness, emphasizing transparency and continuous iteration.

Morningstar Ventures speaks out on the Space project, demanding refunds and transparency.

Morningstar Ventures, Space's investment firm, has urged the Space team to prioritize the interests of the community and public sale participants, demanding that the refund application page be launched on January 27th as previously promised, and that at least 50% of the raised funds be refunded. They also encouraged the team to refund as much as possible within the limits of their current funds. All public sale users can choose a partial refund. The statement also calls for disclosure of fund usage, current balance, and future roadmap, stating that they are not a lead investor in Space, but only have a small investment, and are pushing the team to refund as much as possible and release the first public version of the product on schedule. As previously reported yesterday, Space responded to community questions regarding the fundraising amount and refund transparency, deciding to refund $7.3 million in excess funds.

Google Photos launches "Me Meme" AI-generated emoji feature

According to 9to5Google, Google Photos has launched an experimental "Me Meme" feature on Android and iOS, allowing users to turn selfies into memes using generative AI. Users first select an official template or upload a reference image, then choose a well-lit, clear, front-facing portrait photo. After clicking "generate," users can edit, save to their library, regenerate, or share. This feature is currently being rolled out gradually to users in the United States, and Google has not yet disclosed more detailed information about its scope or future plans. "Me Meme" is one of the AI ​​creation tools under the Create tab within Google Photos.

World Liberty Financial partners with encrypted satellite company Spacecoin and swaps tokens.

World Liberty Financial, affiliated with the Trump family, has entered into a strategic partnership with Spacecoin and will conduct a token swap, aiming to combine DeFi with satellite internet for payments and settlements in remote areas. Spacecoin, a crypto satellite startup, provides "permissionless" internet access via low-Earth orbit satellites, and WLFi will be offered in conjunction with this partnership using a USD1 stablecoin (market capitalization of approximately $3.2 billion) and lending services. Spacecoin claims to have launched three low-Earth orbit satellites, and WLFi will support online user transactions using compliant DeFi tools.

The 21Shares spot DOGE ETF, backed by the Dogecoin Foundation, is listed on Nasdaq.

According to Decrypt, the 21Shares spot DOGE ETF, backed by the Dogecoin Foundation, was listed on Nasdaq on January 22, trading under the ticker symbol TDOG. This product is the first spot Dogecoin ETF in the US to receive formal approval from the SEC, allowing retail and institutional investors to access Dogecoin through traditional brokerage accounts. The president of 21Shares stated that the ETF primarily targets young, affluent mainstream investors. This is the third spot DOGE ETF to enter the US market, following products launched by Bitwise and Grayscale.

Sentient has opened up SENT token airdrops for claiming.

According to official news, the open-source AI platform Sentient has announced that it has opened up the SENT token airdrop. All users who meet the requirements and complete the airdrop registration can receive the token allocation.

North Korean hackers used fake job interviews to attack more than 3,100 IP addresses associated with AI, encryption, and finance companies.

According to Cryptopolitan, a recent study by security firm Recorded Future reveals that the North Korean-affiliated hacking group PurpleBravo launched a cyber espionage campaign targeting over 3,100 IP addresses of companies in the artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and financial services sectors through fake job interviews. The group posed as recruiters or developers, using technical interviews as a pretext to trick targets into executing malicious code. The attackers claimed to be from crypto or technology companies, asking job seekers to review code, clone repositories, or complete programming tasks. Security researchers have identified 20 victim organizations from South Asia, North America, and other regions. The group used multiple aliases and a fake identity in Odessa, Ukraine, for camouflage. The attack used remote access trojans such as PylangGhost and GolangGhost, which automatically steal browser credentials and cookies. The hackers also used a malicious GitHub repository, Astrill VPN, and 17 service providers to host their malware servers. Furthermore, the investigation found related Telegram channels selling LinkedIn and Upwork accounts, and the attackers also interacted with the cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Exchange.

Binance Wallet launches three new AI-driven features: Topic Rush, Social Trends, and AI Assistant.

According to the official announcement, Binance Wallet (web version) has launched three new AI-driven features to help users better identify emerging trending topics and gain insights into market trends: Social Popularity: Ranks on-chain tokens based on social attention and popularity metrics. Topic Rush: Highlights emerging topics on social media and on-chain using AI-generated topic cards, along with their related tokens on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) or Solana. AI Assistant: An AI-driven widget that instantly aggregates all key information about tokens, providing fast and comprehensive insights.

Fabric plans to launch the ROBO token, which will be publicly sold on Kaito on January 26.

According to official news, Fabric, OpenMind's open network for general-purpose robotics, will launch its native token, ROBO. This token will be publicly sold on the Kaito Capital Launchpad, targeting eligible individuals and partner communities. The public sale will begin at 20:00 Beijing time on January 26th, with a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $400 million and a target fundraising amount of $2 million. A maximum of 0.5% of the total token supply will be sold, with 100% released at TGE. The minimum and maximum subscription amounts per address are $1,000 and $250,000, respectively. In this public sale, 40% of the tokens will be allocated as a "priority allocation" to community members of the Fabric Foundation and its partners Kaito AI, Virtuals, and SurfAI.

Binance Wealth Management, One-Click Crypto Buying, Instant Exchange, VIP Lending, Leverage, and Futures Trading with Sentient (SENT)

Binance: SPACE's Alpha airdrop threshold is 227 points, and trading will begin tonight at 18:00.

According to a Binance Wallet announcement, Binance Alpha will launch trading of Spacecoin (SPACE) on January 23rd at 18:00 (UTC+8). Users holding ≥227 Alpha Points can claim 6,720 SPACE on a first-come, first-served basis; if not all are claimed, the threshold will automatically decrease by 5 points every 5 minutes. Claiming will consume 15 points and must be confirmed within 24 hours on the event page, otherwise it will be considered a forfeit.

Binance Futures will launch SPACEUSDT and FIGHTUSDT USDT U-margined perpetual contracts.

Coinbase will launch spot trading for FIGHT and Sentient.

Coinbase will launch spot trading for ImmuneFi (IMU).

Coinbase will launch Sentient (SENT) perpetual contract trading.

Robinhood Legend adds $ASTER and $LDO

Analysis & Opinions

Michael Saylor: Considering buying more Bitcoin

Strategy founder Michael Saylor posted on the X platform, "Considering buying more Bitcoin." Previous reports indicated that as of January 19, 2026, Strategy held 709,715 Bitcoins, with a total purchase cost of approximately $53.92 billion, averaging about $75,979 per Bitcoin.

CZ: AI will make you unemployed, encryption will make you not need to work.

Binance founder CZ posted this morning that AI will cause people to lose their jobs, while crypto will allow people to work without working, and said, "Buy now and hold, retire in a few years," while emphasizing that this was "not financial advice."

Analysis: Bitcoin is in a deep bear market relative to gold, and historical data suggests the downtrend may continue.

According to CoinDesk analysis, Bitcoin's price relative to gold is currently in a deep bear market, consistently underperforming gold, which may challenge its "digital gold" narrative. Currently, the Bitcoin/gold ratio is approximately 18.46, down about 55% from its peak in December 2024, and about 17% below its 200-week moving average (approximately 21.90). Over longer periods, gold has outperformed Bitcoin in both the past one and five years. Historical data shows that in previous major bear market cycles, the Bitcoin/gold ratio has fallen more than 30% below its 200-week moving average (in 2022) and remained below it for over a year. The current break below this level began in November 2025, and if history repeats itself, the ratio could remain below the moving average throughout 2026. However, the largest drawdowns in past cycles have also been deeper, reaching 77% and 84% in the 2022 and 2018 cycles, respectively.

Analysis: Strategy's credit risk has been mitigated because its preferred stock is valued more than its convertible bonds.

According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin treasury company Strategy has mitigated its credit risk as its perpetual preferred stock, valued at $8.36 billion, surpasses its $8.2 billion in convertible debt. This shift in capital structure towards perpetual capital reduces refinancing risk and balance sheet volatility. Convertible bonds carry refinancing risk at maturity and volatility linked to share price, while perpetual preferred stock does not require principal repayment, pays fixed dividends, and has priority between common stock and debt. The company's preferred stock portfolio comprises four instruments, with total annual dividends of approximately $876 million. Furthermore, Strategy holds $2.25 billion in reserves to improve dividend coverage and reduce short-term financing risk. The number of outstanding common shares has increased from 76 million in 2020 to over 310 million, potentially mitigating dilution pressure from future bond conversions.

Analysis: Bitcoin has fallen below the 0.75 percentile of the supply cost baseline and failed to recover, indicating increasing selling pressure.

According to Glassnode analysis, Bitcoin has fallen below the 0.75 supply cost-basis quantile and failed to regain that level. The current spot price is below the cost benchmark of 75% of supply, indicating increasing selling pressure. The risk has significantly increased, and unless the price recovers above this level, a downtrend will dominate.

Analysis: Bitcoin's returns are mismatched with its risks, similar to the situation in 2022.

According to CoinDesk, CryptoQuant data shows that Bitcoin's Sharpe ratio has plunged into negative territory, reaching levels seen during the 2018-2019 and 2022 market crashes, indicating poor risk-adjusted performance and a mismatch between current high volatility and weak returns. This metric measures the ratio of excess returns relative to the risk-free rate to volatility. Its negative value means that the returns from holding Bitcoin are no longer sufficient to compensate for the risk of its volatile price movements. Although Bitcoin's price has fallen from its all-time high of over $120,000 in October 2025 to around $90,000, market volatility remains high.

Investment and Financing

Hardware wallet company Ledger plans to IPO in New York, with a potential valuation of over $4 billion.

According to the Financial Times, French hardware wallet company Ledger has hired Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Barclays to prepare for its US IPO, which could value the company at over $4 billion and could proceed as early as 2026. The company says it has seen record revenue in recent years, driven by investor demand for anti-hacking measures, and its valuation is expected to be around $1.5 billion after a funding round in 2023.

Later reports indicated that ZachXBT criticized Ledger, stating that despite multiple data breaches and product issues, it still used its IPO to "maximize its profits."

Fintech and asset tokenization company Superstate raises $82.5 million in Series B funding.

According to Cointelegraph, fintech and asset tokenization company Superstate announced the completion of an $82.5 million Series B funding round, led by Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global, with participation from Haun Ventures, Brevan Howard Digital, Galaxy Digital, Bullish, and ParaFi. The company plans to use this funding to build a complete on-chain issuance layer on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains for issuing and trading stocks registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Its goal is to leverage blockchain technology to make the company's fundraising and IPO processes more efficient. Superstate currently manages over $1.23 billion in assets and operates two tokenized funds. As an SEC-registered transfer agent, the company, through its "Opening Bell" platform, has been supporting publicly traded companies to directly issue and sell digital shares to investors on public blockchains by the end of 2025, enabling real-time management of issuance, settlement, and ownership records.

Bitcoin payments startup ZBD raises $40 million in Series C funding, led by Blockstream Capital.

According to Fortune magazine, Bitcoin payments startup ZBD announced the completion of a $40 million Series C funding round, led by Blockstream Capital (which invested $36 million). Other investors and the company's valuation were not disclosed. Headquartered in New Jersey, ZBD primarily provides payment software solutions for video games, supporting various transaction processing methods, including Bitcoin. The company does not involve NFTs or crypto-based gameplay; instead, it focuses on using blockchain as a payment channel to help game developers and players establish direct financial relationships, enabling user-to-user transfers and in-game reward distribution. The company currently has 70 employees and has partnered with 55 games by 2025. This funding round will be used to expand its payment product suite over the next year.

River has completed a $12 million strategic funding round, with participation from Maelstrom Fund, The Spartan Group, and others.

River has announced the completion of a $12 million strategic funding round, with investors including Tron DAO, Justin Sun, Maelstrom Fund founded by Arthur Hayes, The Spartan Group, and several Nasdaq-listed companies in the US and Europe. This funding round will support River's expansion into both EVM and non-EVM ecosystems, including multiple networks such as TRON and Sui, and will continue to build its on-chain liquidity infrastructure.

YZi Labs has made a strategic investment in BitGo's IPO.

According to YZi Labs' announcement, it has participated in the strategic placement of BitGo's (NYSE:BTGO) initial public offering, stating that it will bet on "critical infrastructure" such as compliant custody. BitGo disclosed that its platform assets are approximately $82 billion, serving more than 5,100 institutions in 100 countries, and providing integrated services such as custody, staking, and stablecoin issuance.

USD.AI approves up to $500 million in GPU funding for Sharon AI.

According to an official announcement from USD.AI, USD.AI has approved providing up to $500 million in asset-backed, non-recourse debt financing to Australian AI computing power provider Sharon AI. This financing will be provided through an on-chain credit system using stablecoin liquidity to fund GPU deployments. The financing is expected to be available as early as the first quarter of 2026, with an initial phase of approximately $65 million.

mechanism

Bitmine pledged an additional 171,264 ETH, bringing the total pledged amount to approximately $5.73 billion.

According to OnchainLens, Bitmine has pledged an additional 171,264 ETH, worth approximately $503.24 million; its total pledged ETH has reached 1,943,200, worth approximately $5.73 billion.

Hyperliquid Strategies has accumulated approximately $67.6 million worth of HYPE tokens since early December.

According to Mlm onchain monitoring, Hyperliquid Strategies (ticker symbol HSI), a US-listed company, has purchased a total of 3,071,560 HYPE tokens since the beginning of December, currently valued at approximately $67.6 million. It is estimated that about half of these (approximately 1.5 million HYPE tokens) were purchased directly from the Hyperliquid team wallet via over-the-counter (OTC) transactions. These figures are estimates based on on-chain data and have not been officially confirmed. All transaction executions were processed by Flowdesk.

Metalpha withdrew 8,500 ETH from a CEX, worth $24.85 million.

According to Onchain Lens, Metalpha withdrew 8,500 ETH from Kraken and Binance, worth $24.85 million.

BlackRock deposited 3,970 BTC and 82,813 ETH into Coinbase Prime.

Important data

BitGo shares rose approximately 20% on its first day of trading on the NYSE, with its valuation reaching a peak of $2.6 billion during the session.

Crypto custody company BitGo (BTGO) priced its IPO at $18, and its stock price rose by about 20% on the first day, with an intraday valuation of about $2.6 billion. The company and its shareholders sold a total of 11.8 million shares, raising about $213 million, and disclosed that it would earn $35 million in profit and have about $104 billion in assets under custody for the first three quarters of 2025.

Bitcoin mining difficulty decreased by 3.28% to 141.67 T.

Spot silver climbed above $97, setting a new all-time high.

Whale 0xfb7 purchased another 20,013 ETH from FalconX.

An address turned $4,100 into $1.13 million by trading DONT tokens, achieving a return of 276 times.

A "rollover trader" added another $30 million to his short positions, bringing his total short positions to $300 million.

Hyperliquid's top short position holder in BTC has increased its BTC and ETH positions by another $11.87 million.