Kicking Off 2025 in Fine Style! 👑

Happy Friday! I’m Juan Aranovich, managing editor of Unchained.

In today’s edition:

• 🔥 Coinbase’s L2 notches 3M addresses

• 🚀 Meme-driven tokens push to record highs

• 💸 BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF springs a leak

• 🥺 Do Kwon: “I’m innocent”

• 📉 Tether’s market cap drops on MiCA rollout

• 🌐 Lens announces new smart contracts, ICOs

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What’s Poppin’?

By Sage D. Young and Tikta

As Solana Rivalry Heats Up, Coinbase’s L2 Sets New Records for Addresses, Transactions

Base has kicked off the new year achieving new milestones in onchain activity, strengthening its competitive position vis-à-vis Solana.

The number of daily active addresses on Base climbed from under 70,000 in January last year to a new all-time high of three million on Wednesday, while the network’s daily transactions reached 13.4 million, representing an increase of around 3,521% from fewer than 375,000 transactions a year earlier, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Artemis.

AI Meme Tokens Punch up in Potential 2025 Trend

Crypto markets are already dashing doubts that the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies could end up being one of 2025’s most explosive investment narratives.

Tokens associated with AI tools and related memes are leading gains so far in the new year, advancing to record prices and market capitalizations.

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Sees Record $333M Outflow

BlackRock’s U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund has seen its biggest-ever single-day exodus of funds.

Investors pulled $332.6 million from the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) on Jan. 2, according to data from investment management boutique Farside Investors.

IBIT also saw more moderate outflows of $36.5 million and $23.5 million on 2024’s last two trading days.

The fund was one of the best performers among all spot ETF assets in the U.S. in 2024, ranking third in net inflows and seeing only 11 days of outflows during the year.

Do Kwon Pleads Not Guilty to U.S. Criminal Charges

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in the U.S., according to a report by Reuters.

Kwon appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, shortly after his extradition from Montenegro earlier this week. Kwon reportedly appeared to be in “good spirits.”

Federal prosecutors also unsealed a nine-count indictment that charges Kwon with securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering conspiracy related to the $40 billion in estimated losses from Terra’s collapse in 2022.

Kwon’s next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 8.

Tether’s Market Cap Sinks $2B as MiCA Takes Effect

USDT’s market cap has dropped $2.1 billion in the last week, falling from $139.2 billion to $137.1 billion as the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework came into force.

That slump was USDT’s biggest drop since the collapse of FTX in 2022.

MiCA took effect on Dec. 30, ushering in a new era of crypto oversight in Europe that requires stablecoin issuers to obtain an e-money license and maintain up to two-thirds of reserves in independent banks. That makes Tether’s stablecoin, USDT, effectively illegal within the EU.

Separately, Tether and Bitfinex General Counsel Stuart Hoegner has retired, leaving Michael Hilliard, with whom Hoegner co-led Tether’s legal work, to take his place.

Lens to Offer ICOs and ‘New Flavour’ of ERC-20s

Stani Kulechov, the founder of DeFi lender Aave and decentralized social media network Lens, has shared plans to release a new set of contracts on Lens.

The new features include initial coin offerings, a new “flavour” of ERC-20 tokens, bonding curves, ERC-721 contracts and point systems. Kulechov said that all of the new smart contracts would be open source.

Lens was developed by the team behind Aave with the goal of being an alternative to traditional centralized social networks such as X and Instagram. It closed a $31 millionstrategic round led by venture capital fund Lightspeed Faction last month.

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Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍

• 🏦 Non-custodial lending platform Frax Finance approved BlackRock’s BUIDL token as the backing for its frxUSD stablecoin, integrating treasury management and blockchain transparency to enhance financial stability.

• 🗣️ Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin criticized Elon Musk’s ban-heavy approach and inflammatory language on X, warning it threatens free speech and risks fostering an uncivil and divided discourse.

• 🔒 Tron’s T3 Financial Crime Fighting Unit, with Tether and TRM Labs, froze $100 million in illicit USDT, targeting crimes such as money laundering, scams, and hacks across five continents.

• 🌐 Solana’s restaking protocol, Solayer, introduced its LAYER governance token alongside a new foundation, aiming to expand ecosystem growth and support advanced scaling solutions.

• 🎁 Solana’s Drift Protocol plans a second airdrop in May, leveraging its loyalty program to reward users after achieving $55 billion in trading volume and onboarding more than 200,000 traders.

Today in Crypto Adoption...

• 📱 Crypto exchange KuCoin launched a point-of-sale system enabling merchants to accept 54 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and USDT, via QR codes, bridging crypto with traditional payments.

What Do You Meme?

📈 Your Market Update 📉

• BTC is down 0.5%, trading at $96,428

• ETH is down 0.2%, trading at $3,445

• BTC dominance: 53.64%

• Crypto market cap: $3.56T

*All data as of today, 06:04 am ET. Source: CoinGecko

Recommended Reads

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2. DL News: Why these three dates signal a ‘ton of optimism’ for crypto as Trump seizes power

3. Everstake: Ethereum 2024 Staking Insights & Analysis

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