Morning News | Genius will release airdrop white paper; Vanguard Group purchases $505 million in Strategy stock; Trump threatens to sue JPMorgan Chase
Overview of Important Market Events on January 18整理：ChainCatcher
Important News:
- Trump imposes tariffs on 8 European countries over Greenland issue
- Hyperliquid Foundation donates 10,000 HYPE tokens to ZachXBT
- Genius to release airdrop white paper today and suspend dynamic points distribution
- Michael Saylor: Strategy website has added BTC Rating metric
- Vanguard Group makes its first purchase of Strategy stock worth $505 million
- Trump threatens to sue JPMorgan Chase and denies offering the CEO position to its CEO
What important events happened in the past 24 hours?
Vanguard Group makes its first purchase of Strategy stock worth $505 million
According to ChainCatcher, @cryptorover stated on X platform that the Vanguard Group, with a scale of $12 trillion, disclosed that it has made its first purchase of $505 million worth of shares in Bitcoin treasury company Strategy (MSTR).
Michael Saylor: Strategy website has added BTC Rating metric
ChainCatcher reports that Michael Saylor posted on X platform stating that the Strategy website has added a BTC Rating metric. According to Chaitanya Jain, head of Bitcoin product strategy at Strategy, the calculation formula for the BTC Rating metric is: (Bitcoin reserves - debt - preferred stock + dollar reserves) / market capitalization, which is the ratio of net Bitcoin reserves to the company's market value.
ChainCatcher reports that Solana Labs co-founder toly responded on X platform to Vitalik Buterin's view that "Ethereum itself must pass an exit test," stating that he disagrees. He emphasized that Solana needs to continuously iterate and evolve without relying on any single team or individual, but if it stops adjusting based on developer and user needs, Solana will face extinction.
Toly pointed out that Solana must have a wide and genuine human usage scenario and be adopted by a large number of developers, enabling it to generate substantial revenue from on-chain transaction value, thus creating positive feedback and investing more resources (such as LLM token credit) for upstream improvements to this general open-source protocol. He stressed that the primary goal of protocol changes should be to address actual problems faced by developers or users, rather than pursuing coverage of all needs, and that choosing "not to solve" most problems is necessary.
Zhao Changpeng denies rumors of "dating actress Sydney Sweeney"
ChainCatcher reports that Zhao Changpeng (CZ), founder of Binance, denied rumors circulating in the community about "CZ dating actress Sydney Sweeney" on X platform, stating that he does not often participate in social activities and has "never met Sydney Sweeney."
CZ also mentioned that it is becoming increasingly difficult to discern which "news" is not worth believing, but if one can do so, "you will be richer."
ChainCatcher reports that according to SoSoValue data, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net inflow of $1.42 billion during the trading days of January 12 to January 16 (Eastern Time).
The Bitcoin spot ETF with the highest net inflow this week was BlackRock's ETF IBIT, with a weekly net inflow of $1.035 billion, bringing its historical total net inflow to $63.44 billion. Following that was Fidelity's ETF FBTC, with a weekly net inflow of $194 million, and its historical total net inflow reached $11.92 billion.
The Bitcoin spot ETF with the highest net outflow this week was Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust GBTC, with a weekly net outflow of $1.6757 million, bringing its historical total net outflow to $25.41 billion.
As of the time of writing, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $124.56 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio (market value as a percentage of total Bitcoin market value) of 6.53%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached $57.82 billion.
ChainCatcher reports that according to SoSoValue data, Ethereum spot ETFs saw a net inflow of $479 million during the trading days of January 12 to January 16 (Eastern Time).
The Ethereum spot ETF with the highest net inflow this week was BlackRock's ETF ETHA, with a weekly net inflow of $219 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $12.94 billion. Following that was Grayscale's Ethereum mini trust ETH, with a weekly net inflow of $123 million, and its historical total net inflow reached $1.63 billion.
As of the time of writing, the total net asset value of Ethereum spot ETFs is $20.42 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio (market value as a percentage of total Ethereum market value) of 5.14%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached $12.91 billion.
Trump threatens to sue JPMorgan Chase and denies offering the CEO position to its CEO
ChainCatcher reports that according to DL News, Trump stated that he will sue JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., in the next two weeks because JPMorgan had previously stopped providing him with customer services. Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., stated that after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, the Trump family had no choice but to enter the crypto asset space because banks refused to provide them with services.
Additionally, Trump denied ever offering the CEO position to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and stated that the related report by The Wall Street Journal is completely false.
ChainCatcher reports that according to Cointelegraph, Patrick Witt, head of the White House crypto committee, stated that the U.S. is still making progress in establishing Bitcoin strategic reserves, but some "less common legal clauses" are slowing down the process.
Currently, several government agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), are discussing the legal and regulatory authority issues related to Bitcoin strategic reserves. Witt pointed out that while the arrangements may seem straightforward, the differences in statutory authority among different agencies complicate the process, and related issues are still being coordinated, with Bitcoin strategic reserves remaining a current policy priority.
Previously, Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 to establish a "strategic Bitcoin reserve" and a "digital asset reserve pool," but the order only allows for the inclusion of BTC from judicial forfeitures into the reserves and does not authorize the government to purchase Bitcoin from the open market, which has caused dissatisfaction among some members of the Bitcoin community.
Despite the policy controversies, the U.S. government is still exploring potential implementation paths that are compliant and do not increase the fiscal deficit.
Trump imposes tariffs on 8 European countries over Greenland issue
ChainCatcher reports that Trump stated on Truth Social that due to the Greenland issue (a Danish autonomous territory), starting February 1 of this year, all goods exported from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland to the U.S. will be subject to a 10% tariff. By June 1 of this year, the tariff will increase to 25%. This tariff must be paid continuously until an agreement is reached on the "complete and thorough purchase of Greenland."
In his post, Trump stated, "Countries like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland have all gone to Greenland with unclear intentions. This poses a very dangerous situation for the safety, security, and survival of our planet. These countries are playing an extremely dangerous game, and the level of risk they bring is intolerable and unsustainable. Therefore, to protect global peace and security, strong measures must be taken to swiftly and indisputably end this potential danger."
Additionally, the European Union will convene an emergency meeting of member state ambassadors in Brussels on the 18th to discuss the Greenland issue and President Trump's new tariff threats.
ChainCatcher reports that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong denied reports that the Trump administration is considering retracting support for the cryptocurrency market structure bill. Brian Armstrong stated that this claim is inaccurate. The White House has been very proactive on this matter. "They have indeed asked us to try to reach an agreement with banks, and we are currently working on that. In fact, we have been brainstorming some good ideas that we hope will specifically help community banks, as the focus of this bill is community banks. More information will be released soon."
Previously, it was reported by crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett that if Coinbase does not present a satisfactory yield agreement to banks, the White House is considering retracting support for the market structure bill.
Hyperliquid Foundation donates 10,000 HYPE tokens to ZachXBT
ChainCatcher reports that the Hyperliquid Foundation announced a donation of 10,000 HYPE tokens, worth approximately $254,000, to on-chain detective ZachXBT, marking the second-largest donation ZachXBT has received to date.
Currently, ZachXBT has confirmed receipt of this donation and listed information about other top ten donors, including: Optimism, Octant, The White Whale, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Unipcs, Nouns, CL207, and High Stakes Capital.
Genius to release airdrop white paper today and suspend dynamic points distribution
ChainCatcher reports that Genius, a Perp DEX trading terminal supported by YZi Labs, announced that dynamic points distribution will be suspended starting Saturday, January 17, 2026, at 7:30 PM Eastern Time, transitioning to a retrospective points system, with specific information to be announced soon. All points earned through trading will be retained in user accounts.
The first retrospective activity will begin at 4 PM on January 19, and the airdrop white paper will be released today.
On January 13, YZi Labs, co-founded by Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) and He Yi, made a multi-million dollar investment in Genius Trading, with Zhao Changpeng also joining the project as an advisor.
Genius aims to build a privacy-first on-chain trading platform, offering spot, perpetual contracts, and copy trading, with the goal of becoming a decentralized version of "Binance." The platform has already processed over $60 million in trading volume during its testing phase and plans to launch a public privacy protocol test in Q2 2026.
Meme Popularity Rankings
According to meme token tracking and analysis platform GMGN, as of January 19, 09:00,
The top five popular ETH tokens in the past 24 hours are: SHIB, LINK, PEPE, UNI, ONDO
The top five popular Solana tokens in the past 24 hours are: TRUMP, PENGU, Fartcoin, PUMP, arc
The top five popular Base tokens in the past 24 hours are: PEPE, BASED, BSC, SKYA, B3
What are some interesting articles worth reading in the past 24 hours?
Pantera Capital: A review of investments in 2025
As we enter 2026, we look forward to an even more exciting year in the cryptocurrency space than the last. But before turning the page, we want to take a moment to reflect on the achievements of 2025.
2025 reminded us once again that the development of cryptocurrency is not always smooth sailing. Driven by historic favorable factors and clearer trends in U.S. regulatory policies, the market soared to new historical highs, and various viewpoints evolved, with market momentum resetting cyclically. Although the final closing price was below the historical peak, this year marked a necessary adjustment for the cryptocurrency industry, laying the foundation for a true leap in growth.
In the era of IoT: Will robot vacuums steal your cryptocurrency?
Smart robot vacuums and other smart home devices can easily be hacked to record your password inputs or mnemonic phrases.
Imagine waking up one morning to find your robot vacuum out of control, your refrigerator demanding ransom, and your cryptocurrency and bank account funds have been completely drained.
This is not a scene from Stephen King's 1986 horror film "Maximum Overdrive," which tells the story of a rogue comet triggering a global machine killing spree.
Prediction markets do not predict the truth; they only reward those who bet correctly
Prediction markets price events that have not yet occurred. They are not reporting facts; they are allocating probabilities to futures that are still open, uncertain, and unknown. At some point, we began treating these probabilities as some form of truth.
For much of the past year, prediction markets have been basking in their victory tour.
They have outperformed polls, beaten cable news, and surpassed experts with PhDs and PowerPoint presentations. During the 2024 U.S. election cycle, platforms like Polymarket reflected reality faster than all mainstream prediction tools. This success has gradually solidified into a narrative: prediction markets are not only accurate but superior—a purer way to aggregate truth, a more authentic signal reflecting people's beliefs.
Looking back at the recently concluded 2025, if you feel that on-chain scams are becoming increasingly "understanding" of you, it is not an illusion.
With the deep proliferation of LLMs, social engineering attacks initiated by hackers have evolved from bulky mass emails to "precision feeding": AI can analyze your on-chain/off-chain preferences to automatically generate highly tempting customized phishing content, even perfectly mimicking the tone and logic of your friends on social channels like Telegram.
It can be said that on-chain attacks are entering a true industrialization phase, and in this context, if our shields remain in the "manual era," security itself will undoubtedly become the biggest bottleneck for the mass adoption of Web3.
Risk warning
Risk warning
