Project Progress

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has approved five crypto institutions—Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos—to obtain nationwide trust bank charters, marking a thorough integration of TradFi and crypto. Federal licenses allow giants to connect directly to the Federal Reserve's clearing network, Fedwire, gaining real-time settlement capabilities. The acting OCC deputy director stated that new entrants benefit competition within the banking system.

ERC-8004 is about to go live on the Ethereum mainnet, providing a standardized solution for trust issues in AI Agents. The AP2 protocol promoted by Google and the x402 protocol have integrated payment scenarios, but cross-platform AI Agents face a key bottleneck in verifying each other's identity and reputation. ERC-8004 establishes a trusted communication mechanism through on-chain identity verification and reputation systems.

Teltlk supports Visa cards for Pi Coin and USDT global spending, allowing shopping on Amazon, eBay, and Apple Pay. KYB verification has been completed, supporting deposit, withdrawal, and exchange. New features include quick exchange, no binding required for deposit and withdrawal, and improved notifications. The Discover page has added a Web3 Academy educational module.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has invested in the prediction market platform Kalshi, becoming the first active NBA player to directly invest in a federally regulated event contract exchange. The two-time MVP announced the partnership on Friday, stating that he will participate as a shareholder and collaborate on live events. Kalshi confirmed the agreement but emphasized that internal regulations prohibit Giannis Antetokounmpo from trading in any NBA-related markets.

Kyle Samani stepped down as co-founder of Multicoin Capital on February 5th, and three days later publicly criticized Hyperliquid for "facilitating crime." Ironically, on-chain data shows that Multicoin purchased over $40 million worth of HYPE tokens in January, sparking market speculation: Did investment disagreements lead to this Solana enthusiast's departure?

Pi Network announces the launch of the mainnet protocol upgrade, gradually upgrading from version 19 to version 23 in phases. All node operators must follow a 7-step mandatory upgrade path, with the first deadline set for February 12, 2026, to complete the v19.6 upgrade. At the same time, the network celebrates the Annual Mainnet Appreciation Day, recognizing the contributions of volunteers worldwide. The biggest highlight of this upgrade is that version 23 will directly integrate KYC permissions into the blockchain layer.

Ripple will release its roadmap on February 11th on X Spaces, with the theme "XRP Capital Markets Era." Key focuses include smart contracts, ZK proof privacy, and cross-chain liquidity. The event will highlight regulated financial products and wrapped assets. XRP weekly attracts $45 million in ETFs, and Standard Chartered predicts it will reach $8 by the end of the year.

Vitalik and c-node discuss the essence of DeFi. c-node criticizes USDC lending as "commodity worship" that is superficial. Vitalik believes that over-collateralized algorithmic stablecoins are true DeFi and require diversification of counterparty risk. The criticism of USDC strategy is just about centralized coin deposit protocols, calling for a shift away from the US dollar toward decentralized accounting.

Amidst the intense volatility in the cryptocurrency market, DeFi protocol World Liberty Financial (WLFI), supported by the family of U.S. President Donald Trump, has unexpectedly come under pressure due to liquidation risks faced by lending platforms. The protocol was forced to sell Bitcoin to repay debts, drawing significant market attention. According to on-chain data platform Arkham Intelligence, the official wallet of World Liberty Financial sold over 170 Bitcoins on Wednesday at an approximate price of $67,000 each, cashing out about $11 million. The funds were immediately transferred to leading lending protocol Aave to repay loans and avoid liquidation. Alongside the forced sale of assets to cover debts, WLFI tokens have also continued to experience downward pressure.

MegaETH is set to launch its mainnet on February 9, with the MEGA token's Token Generation Event (TGE) contingent on meeting specific ecosystem KPIs. These include a minimum USDM supply and transaction activity. Post-launch, MegaETH will also experiment with Proximity Markets.

Pump.fun acquires trading terminal Vyper on Thursday, expanding again after acquiring Padre in October 2025. Vyper will be integrated into Terminal and will cease service, with this acquisition focusing on EVM and Base chain support. On February 2, Pump.fun issued nearly 30,000 tokens, far exceeding the average of 9,000-13,000 per day in October.

Pi Coin Test Palm Scan KYC Verification to Prevent Fake Accounts, with Face Scan Collaborating for Liveness Detection. In February, 189 million coins were unlocked, setting a new annual high; 134 million were released in January. In January, 2.5 million frozen users were unblocked, with 16 million already migrated to the mainnet and 3 million in the process of migration. KYC rewards will be distributed by the end of March.

Tether invests $150 million to acquire a 12% stake in Gold.com, integrating the gold token XAUT into the platform. Driven by gold prices surpassing $5,000, the tokenized gold market has surged from $1.3 billion to $5.5 billion, with XAUT holding over 60% market share.

Stablecoin payment company Rain announces latest funding round raises $250 million, with the company's valuation reaching $1.95 billion, officially entering the unicorn club. This round was led by ICONIQ, with participation from top firms such as Sapphire Ventures. Rain co-founder and CEO Farooq Malik stated that the total funding amount has exceeded $338 million.

Circle partners with Polymarket to bridge USDC.e from Polygon and convert it to native USDC. The native token is issued by Circle and can be redeemed 1:1 for USD, eliminating the need for cross-chain bridges to improve capital efficiency. The founder of Polymarket stated that this will enhance market integrity. USDC has a market capitalization of 70.77 billion and is the second-largest stablecoin.

Grammy host Trevor Noah jokingly suggested that betting on "potato" on Polymarket would be a big win, and the clip went viral. However, there is no such option on Polymarket; it's a marketing tactic. Prediction markets have expanded from the 2024 election to entertainment and sports, with Super Bowl trading volume reaching $1 billion, making it a partner of CNN and Google Finance. However, Nevada's ban has sparked regulatory discussions.

Tether CEO clarifies that the 20 billion fundraising is a misunderstanding; it is only an extreme scenario cap, not an actual target. Compared to an AI loss valuation of 800 billion, Tether earns over 10 billion annually to support a 500 billion valuation. With a US debt holding of 141.6 billion, it ranks as the 18th largest holder globally, surpassing Deutsche Bank. The launch of the compliant stablecoin USAT, targeting the US market, and the appointment of Bo Hines as CEO to compete with Circle.

The Aztec community has approved the TGE plan proposal, and token transfers are expected to open at 3:00 PM on February 12. The proposal was initiated for voting on January 27, requiring 100 million tokens to participate and an approval rate of over 66%. Users who purchased through sales can transfer tokens.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin reflects on the Layer2 strategy, stating that decentralization is far slower than expected and the vision no longer holds meaning. Nearly 100 Layer2 projects have raised over $3 billion, with a total FDV exceeding $10 billion, but only Base remains active. Among the top 20, only 1 has reached Phase 2, and 12 are at Phase 0 relying on multi-signature. Layer1 scaling has become the new focus.