Project Progress

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.

Aster is suspected of insider trading due to weak token prices, but CEO Leonard clarified that CZ is only an advisor and not a decision-maker. YZi Labs' Chief Investment Officer has a long-term lock-up. The project has repurchased 254 million tokens and burned 78 million. The buyback is now automatically executed on-chain, with funds traceable from transaction fees. The platform's TVL and trading volume remain high, with transaction fees supporting long-term buybacks.

XRPL permissioned domain launched on February 4th, with XLS-80 passing at 91.18%. In the public chain credential control environment, only KYC/AML verified accounts can participate. It lays the foundation for an authorized DEX integrated with XLS-70d. Ripple 300 partners can securely use the DEX, with on-chain banking transactions limited to participants, offering high speed and low fees without the need for private chains. Provides access control for RWA.

Recent data shows the Pi Network Core Team has made significant internal transfers of Pi coins, coinciding with a drop in price and increased user participation. Over 193 million tokens are set to unlock this February, raising investor concerns.

World Liberty Financial launches the World Liberty Markets lending platform, with the core stablecoin USD1 circulating at $3.4 billion. Smart contracts manage loans, allowing users to collateralize ETH or BTC to borrow USD1. The platform supports cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, plans to add RWA, and has applied for an OCC license.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold 704.84 ETH (approximately $1.63 million) during the market recovery to donate to Kanro for pandemic relief. Last week, he withdrew 16,384 ETH for a five-year plan as the Ethereum Foundation entered a tightening phase, and he personally oversees special projects. He still holds 235,268 ETH, but his net worth has decreased from $800 million to $569 million.

Flying Tulip A round financing is $25.5 million, valuing $1 billion, plus seed round total financing of $225.5 million. Curated has raised 50 million, and CoinList will allocate 200 million next week. 1.36 billion was promised, but only 400 million remained. Core innovation "Perpetual put option": Burn FT tokens at any time to redeem the principal, at a price of $0.10/coin.

Bulk Trade in the Perp DEX space attempts to achieve centralized trading speed and decentralized settlement capabilities through a customized Solana validator client architecture. Its innovative order matching and propagation logic significantly improve trading efficiency, and by using a centralized current-price order book, it eliminates liquidity issues common in traditional DEXs, ensuring the security and execution efficiency of trades. Currently in internal testing, looking forward to its performance on the public testnet.

January 27 News, prediction market platform Polymarket announced a new partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS), officially becoming MLS's exclusive prediction market partner. The news has been confirmed by MLS through official channels, with the partnership covering several high-profile events including the MLS Cup and MLS All-Star Game. This also means that prediction markets will be deeply integrated into the viewing ecosystem of America's top soccer league. For Polymarket, this is a significant strategic shift. The platform initially gained popularity in the crypto space for political and macroeconomic predictions, and is now shifting its focus to sports. Compared to elections and policy issues, soccer matches are more intuitive, more entertaining, and easier to attract ordinary users. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be held in North America, the popularity of soccer continues to rise. Polymarket's early layout in MLS is seen as a key bet on future user growth.

PANews January 14 News, according to The Block, Tether-supported mobile wallet Oobit announced native integration with the Solana ecosystem wallet Phantom. Users can make stablecoin payments at Visa-supported merchants worldwide through Oobit's DePay system with one click. Funds are deducted in real-time from the wallet and automatically converted to fiat currency, with no pre-transfer or intermediary required. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko was involved in Oobit's $25 million Series A funding.