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The Ethereum Foundation has announced the establishment of the Platform Team, aimed at building the most powerful Ethereum platform possible, enabling better support for users, applications, and all organizations built on Ethereum at both the L1 and L2 layers.Improving the relationship between L1 and L2 layers to create a mutually reinforcing system across various levels. The Foundation stated that since the introduction of the rollup-centric roadmap five years ago, a chain ecosystem has developed around the Ethereum L1 layer. The early rollup mindset has been replaced by differentiated L2 layer networks, each possessing unique and valuable economic systems, thereby extending Ethereum's core characteristics to millions of users.As Ethereum matures, the Foundation believes that more measures must be taken to build a unified platform that can fully leverage the unique advantages of the Ethereum system (L1 + L2). This includes enhancing the value proposition of L2, optimizing the adoption drivers for L2, enabling it to create value for Ethereum more broadly, guiding the ecosystem towards a more secure, permissionless architecture, and simplifying the process for users and institutions to adopt Ethereum.More importantly, building a strong Ethereum means driving technological improvements to reinforce and enhance Ethereum's core characteristics and unique advantages.

According to an analysis model released by CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, the indicator based on Bitcoin's four-year Simple Moving Average (SMA) has entered the bear market level range.This indicator measures Bitcoin's valuation status through standard deviation and SMA multiples: the higher the multiple, the deeper the overbought level, and the closer the price is to the four-year SMA, the lower the valuation. The current Bitcoin price has fallen back to the green zone and is close to the four-year SMA level, which is currently around $57,500. Historically, this level usually marks the final stage of each bear market, with BTC prices often consolidating in this area for several months. Darkfost stated that he typically does not favor models based on moving averages, but believes this indicator is worth paying attention to.

According to the official announcement, Binance will list Espresso (ESP) and add a seed tag for it.

According to Jinshi, U.S. President Trump stated that our interest rates should be 2 percentage points lower than they are now.

Global leading full-stack Web3 security company ExVul has established a long-term strategic partnership with high-performance financial public chain Pharos, jointly setting up a $1.25 million security audit Grants to support the development of early startup teams within the Pharos ecosystem.The Grants are aimed at early projects in the Pharos incubator, providing complete security audit services for core smart contracts and key system modules, along with funding and ongoing security advisory support. The collaboration between Pharos and ExVul fully reflects a high level of trust in their professional capabilities and highlights the close binding of both parties in the long-term construction of the ecosystem. Through this cooperation, ExVul will build a sustainable, secure, and compliant infrastructure for Pharos's early projects, solidifying the foundation for the ecosystem's long-term development.

Cobo co-founder and CEO Shen Yu shared investment insights on platform X: "The biggest structural advantage of individual investors over institutions is not information or capital, but rather 'no one needs to be accountable.'Funds are often constrained by institutional requirements from LPs, drawdown limits, and quarterly assessments, which can force them to cut losses at the worst possible times; whereas individual investors can take advantage of volatility and extend their time horizons to acquire chips that are passively sold off due to institutional constraints at market bottoms, thus generating profits."

Guotai Junan Securities released a research report stating that HashKey HLDGS (03887.HK), as a leading licensed digital asset company in Hong Kong, is initiating coverage with a "Buy" rating and a target price of HKD 10.14.The core logic is based on three points: first, the company holds a full license from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) under categories 1/7/9, with a market share exceeding 75% and significant compliance barriers; second, institutional business accounts for 85.5%, with Omnibus client trading volume increasing nearly fivefold, and the proportion of institutional revenue is expected to rise significantly to 68% in H1 2025; third, the development of digital asset ETFs is driving institutional demand, and the company's integrated ecosystem (trading + on-chain services + asset management) creates a competitive advantage.In terms of finance, it is estimated that revenue will reach HKD 782 million, HKD 1.211 billion, and HKD 2.338 billion in 2025-2027, with net profit losses gradually narrowing (HKD -1.084 billion, -0.717 billion, -0.047 billion). Using the PS valuation method and referencing comparable companies like Coinbase, a 12x PS is applied, corresponding to a market value of HKD 28.1 billion.

Matrixport's analysis states that after a round of capitulation selling, Bitcoin is attempting to stage a counter-trend rebound. This round of decline has washed out weak positions and triggered passive selling pressure and chain liquidations in the derivatives market. In the short term, there is still room for a technical rebound; however, whether the rebound can extend further depends on whether there is new capital to take over, rather than relying solely on short covering and systematic hedging funds to sustain it.As previously mentioned, Bitcoin is still in a larger bear market reset phase. During this phase, rapid surges are not uncommon, but they often struggle to sustain. On-chain data continues to confirm that the current environment remains relatively weak: demand momentum is weakening, and structural accumulation is limited. Meanwhile, hedging activities in the options market are heating up, further amplifying volatility. If spot demand remains weak, prices are more likely to experience gap-down movements, and the impact of derivatives on Bitcoin prices will also increase.

Cryptocurrency asset public companies (DATs) are currently facing the issue of market chain risks triggered by increased selling pressure, after driving the market up last year.Data shows that since Bitcoin dropped nearly half from its peak of $126,000 in October last year, the median stock price of the 150 largest DATs has fallen by 62%, even exceeding the decline of Bitcoin. Hayden Hughes, managing partner at Tokenize Capital, analyzed that DATs, which have no operating income and rely solely on hoarding cryptocurrency assets, will be forced to sell their holdings to maintain operations. This could shake investors' confidence in their "long-term hold" narrative, potentially triggering broader market sentiment contagion.

1confirmation announced that it has begun investing from its fourth fund (Fund IV) and will intensify support for the best early-stage crypto entrepreneurs.The firm stated in a declaration that they established the first crypto venture capital fund 10 years ago, firmly believing that cryptocurrency would empower people and bring more freedom to the world, "and this is happening. Looking forward to the next 10 years."

CryptoQuant released a report indicating that on-chain data signals show the current market downturn is deepening, performing worse than the early stages of the 2022 bear market, with BTC prices potentially dropping towards $60,000.The next major support zone for BTC is between $60,000 and $70,000, and there is widespread structural weakness in the crypto market. Institutional demand has sharply reversed, with U.S. spot BTC exchange-traded funds shifting from net buying last year to net selling, while retail participation remains sluggish, with Coinbase premiums consistently negative since mid-October. Liquidity conditions are also tightening.Additionally, long-term demand growth has significantly collapsed, with annual spot demand for BTC dropping from 1.1 million BTC to 77,000 BTC over the past four months, a decline of 93%.

According to Jin Ten, Federal Reserve Governor Mester stated that the Federal Reserve needs to cut interest rates by about 1 percentage point this year.

Former Coinbase CTO and angel investor Balaji Srinivasan stated today that the signs of a fiat currency crisis are already emerging, and physical gold is susceptible to government seizure (as seen with Roosevelt's order in 1933), while digital gold like Bitcoin has greater resistance to seizure due to its invisibility and programmability.In the article, Balaji noted that the gold reserves of BRICS countries have surged since the 2008 financial crisis, indicating a shift in the East towards tangible assets, but the internet will replace the dollar-dominated Keynesianism with digital assets.Balaji concluded that for people in sovereign debt crisis countries like North America and Western Europe, gold may not necessarily be the best safe-haven asset, and Bitcoin is a hedge worth considering.

CryptoQuant analyst Woominkyu stated that the "Supply in Loss (%)" of Bitcoin has begun to rise again. Historically, this shift marks the early stages of a bear market: at this point, losses begin to spread, no longer limited to short-term holders, but gradually affecting long-term participants.In previous cycles (2014, 2018, 2022), this indicator started to rise before the market hit bottom, while prices continued to weaken. A true bottom will only form after the "Supply in Loss (%)" significantly expands. Currently, the "Supply in Loss (%)" is still far below historical capitulation levels, but the directional change itself is significant. This suggests that the market may be transitioning to a bear market structure rather than experiencing a temporary pullback within a bull market trend.

According to Jinshi reports, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell stated that the growth of labor supply has essentially stalled.

CryptoQuant analyst Woominkyu stated that the market may be transitioning to a bear market structure, rather than experiencing a temporary pullback within a bull market trend. The Supply in Loss (SALL) of Bitcoin has started to rise again. Historically, this shift marks the early stages of a bear market, during which losses begin to spread, no longer limited to short-term holders, but gradually affecting long-term participants.In previous cycles (2014, 2018, 2022), this indicator had risen before the actual market bottom, while prices continued to weaken. A true bottom will only form after a significant expansion of the supply in loss. Currently, the supply in loss is still far below historical capitulation levels, but its directional change is significant in itself.

Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, published a lengthy analysis on social media, warning that the United States is in the fifth stage of his "Big Cycle" theory (the eve of order collapse), with multiple indicators suggesting that society may slide into the sixth stage (civil war and order collapse). His core judgments are based on:Deteriorating finances and conflicts: High government deficits and rising debt, along with historical highs in wealth and value gaps, constitute a "classic deadly combination."Populism and extremism: Increased political polarization, the silencing of moderates, media becoming a tool for partisan struggle, and the "loss of truth" in the public sphere.Escalation of violent incidents: Recent deaths of protesters in Minneapolis and conflicts between federal and state governments are typical signs of transitioning to the sixth stage.Systemic dysfunction: Legal and political systems are increasingly used as weapons in struggles, with rules giving way to the logic of "winning at all costs."Ray Dalio stated that the current situation is highly similar to the early period of order reorganization from 1930 to 1945. If consensus cannot be built through leadership and painful but necessary reforms are not implemented, society may repeat the mistakes of civil war/revolution. Investors and policymakers should recognize the forces of the cycle, promote productivity-oriented reforms (education, infrastructure, research), and replace "zero-sum struggle" with "win-win cooperation" to avoid an irreversible collapse of the system. Although the trajectory is difficult to change, it is still possible and necessary to mitigate conflicts and reshape broad prosperity through wise choices before sliding into the sixth stage.

Vitalik Buterin recently stated that he no longer fully agrees with the old view of blockchain as "only recording transaction order, not committing to state," and explained the reasons for his change in perspective.Vitalik pointed out that his early opposition to this idea was primarily based on the fact that if the chain does not commit to state, ordinary users must either fully verify all transactions from the genesis block or be forced to trust a single third-party service provider, both of which are not ideal options. In contrast, designs like Ethereum that commit to the state root in the block header allow for the verification of any state through Merkle proofs under the "majority honest" consensus assumption, which is much more feasible. He emphasized that the real game changer is the development of zero-knowledge technologies like ZK-SNARKs, which make it possible to verify the correctness on-chain without re-executing all transactions, thus "achieving both security and scalability."Additionally, Vitalik reflected on the uncertainties in the real world: network interruptions, service provider shutdowns, consensus centralization, and censorship risks can occur at any time. Therefore, the blockchain system must always retain a fallback that is "self-verifiable without relying on others." In his view, the "cabin in the woods" is not a model for everyone to live in daily, but rather a safety net in extreme situations, and it is also an important leverage against intermediaries and service providers. Maintaining such a minimally viable and autonomously usable path is an indispensable part of Ethereum's long-term evolution.

According to Cointelegraph, the number of Bitcoin nodes supporting Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110 (BIP-110) has risen to 2.38%. This proposal is a temporary soft fork that limits the amount of data per transaction at the consensus level.According to data from The Bitcoin Portal, out of 24,481 nodes, 583 are running BIP-110, with the main node software implementation for this soft fork proposal being Bitcoin Knots. BIP-110 limits the size of transaction outputs to 34 bytes and sets the OP_RETURN data limit to 83 bytes. According to the proposal's description on its GitHub page, this temporary soft fork will be deployed for 1 year, after which it may be extended or modified. OP_RETURN is a script code that allows users to embed arbitrary data.Since the release of the latest version of the most widely used Bitcoin node software—Bitcoin Core 30—this feature has been a focal point of intense debate within the Bitcoin community. The OP_RETURN data limit was originally set to 83 bytes, but Bitcoin Core developers unilaterally removed this restriction in the Bitcoin Core 30 version. This change stemmed from a controversial code merge request first proposed in April 2025, which was widely opposed by the Bitcoin community.

The product head of OKX Wallet, Zakk Wang, stated at the New Year's dinner event hosted by OKX that X Layer is an important cornerstone for the continuous advancement of OKX Web3 and needs to fulfill its historical responsibilities.The construction of X Layer will be promoted in three steps: the first step is to solidify the underlying technology, ensuring high performance, stability, and low cost over a long period, with transaction gas being almost free and TPS and block speed maintained at a high level; the second step is the construction of infrastructure, DeFi, and assets. While introducing Uniswap, the priority will be to build a stable and solid Swap and DeFi system, continuously enhancing the on-chain TVL to support high-frequency and common use cases like Staking, avoiding ecological singularity, and improving payment infrastructure, including capabilities like cards and X402. All related constructions will revolve around X Layer; currently, the overall progress has reached the third stage, and OKX will begin to implement the previously announced incentive funds, starting with the X Layer hackathon aimed at the community and universities to promote more projects that truly contribute to the development of the industry.