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The Crypto Minute
Your Weekly Guide to Surviving the Crypto Rollercoaster.
CoinBrain
January 27, 2025 • Reading Time: 10 minutes
Welcome to a new issue of Crypto Minute by CoinBrain! This week you can expect nothing short of a crazy stuff (business as usual in crypto 😅 ).
Market fundamentals remain strong and traders are chasing their luck on pump and dump memecoins 📈 📉
Let’s recap the most important stuff of last week and discuss what might be awaiting us in the next one ☕️
⤵️ Today’s Agenda:
Silkroad founder Ross Ulbricht receives an unconditional pardon by President Donald Trump after serving 11 years in prison.
ETH holders demand a "Wartime CEO" of Ethereum Foundation as the community debates leadership and transparency.
🛠️ Uniswap V4 Rolls Out: Lower fees, faster swaps, and customizable "hooks". Will it live up to the hype?
$VINE 🍇 hits $500M in half a day! Nostalgia meets crypto as Vine’s founder teases a comeback.
And more…
📊 Market Snapshot
| $99,100BTC-5.7% | $3,100ETH-7.8% | $3.35TCrypto Market Cap-4.3% | 55 (Neutral)Fear & Greed Index-3 from last week |
📅 Crypto Events You don’t want to Miss
Wednesday, Jan 29th - US Federal Funds Rate & FOMC Statement
The Federal Reserve is back with its interest rate decision 🔥. Higher rates typically mean less appetite for risk assets like Bitcoin and altcoins, so expect volatility!
The accompanying FOMC Statement and press conference will provide clues about future rate hikes—essential reading for traders.
Watch closely for any hints about the inflation outlook or economic conditions. Even a slight tone shift can move the markets! 📉📈
Friday, Jan 31st - US Core PCE Price Index (MoM)
Core PCE strips out food and energy to reveal the true inflation trend. A hotter-than-expected number could keep the Fed hawkish, which might put pressure on crypto prices.
🐋Smart Money Tracker
Tuesday, Jan 21st: Trump-associated World Liberty Financial is pouring millions of dollars into blue-chip DeFi projects, such as $LINK, $AAVE, $ETH, $ENA and $TRX.
Wednesday, Jan 22nd: LeBron James sold 4.52M $TRUMP($185M) for 4.52M $USDC at an average price of $1, cashing out too early and missing a $180M profit.
On this day, he spent 2.5M $USDC to buy $TRUMP again, but quickly sold for 2.43M $USDC, taking a $67K loss.
Thursday, Jan 23rd: This trader has sold all $MELANIA, making a total profit of $42.7M (62x)!
They spent 2,500 $SOL($688K) to buy 5.2M $MELANIA at $0.13, and sold all of them at an average price of $8.34 for $43.4M, making a profit of $42.7M, a 62x return!
Saturday, Jan 25th: On Jan 23rd this trader spent $70K to buy 14.64M $VINE and sold 9.96M $VINE for $2.36M, leaving 4.67M $VINE($1.73M), with a profit of ~$4M.
@boldleonidas
On this day they spent $1.69M to buy 13.81M $VINE($5.1M) with another wallet, with an unrealized profit of ~$3.4M.
Sunday, Jan 26th: This whale who made a $11.8M profit on $TRUMP spent another $33.9M to buy 766,083 $TRUMP ($22.9M) on this day at $44.25 and has now lost $11M. They have lost almost all of their profits.
Source: Lookonchain
📰 News Recap (Jan 21 to 27)
The Ethereum Foundation is under fire as ETH holders demand a "Wartime CEO" to steer the ship 🚢
A mysterious "Second Foundation" X account sparked debates, with critics calling for more transparency and leadership changes. Vitalik Buterin insists he’s in charge, but the community is restless. Will Ethereum rise to the challenge or sink under pressure? ⚔️
Azuki’s new $ANIME token exploded onto the scene, hitting a $350M market cap in just 24 hours 🚀.
This NFT project containing 10,000 images of anime-style characters is one of the most popular on the market according to weekly trading volume. With a fully diluted value of $630M, this anime-inspired token is fueling Azuki’s web3 ecosystem.
Source: theblock.co
Uniswap V4 is rolling out this week, promising lower fees, faster swaps, and customizable "hooks" for devs 🛠️.
The new "singleton" architecture consolidates liquidity into one smart contract, promising faster transactions and lower gas fees. Plus, "hooks" will let developers customize liquidity pools like never before. After delays due to security audits, V4 is finally here. Stay tuned!
Source: blog.uniswap.org
Vine is back — sort of! The VINE memecoin surged to a $500M valuation after Vine’s founder, Rus Yusupov, endorsed it 🍇
Launched on PumpFun, the coin sparked a "nostalgia memecoin" rally, though most copycats crashed. VINE is down 65% from its peak but still holds a $150M market cap. With Yusupov teasing a "sweet" announcement for Vine’s 12th anniversary, could this be more than just a memecoin?
Source: TradingView
$TORN skyrocketed 150% after a U.S. appeals court lifted sanctions on Tornado Cash 🌪️.
The court ruled that smart contracts aren’t "property" and can’t be sanctioned, marking a huge win for crypto privacy. Tornado Cash had been accused of laundering $7B, including funds for North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
While developer Alexey Pertsev remains jailed in the Netherlands, this ruling could set a precedent for future crypto regulation.
🌍️ Story of the Week
Ross Ulbricht Pardoned by Trump – The Silk Road Saga Takes a Wild Turn
Newly innaugurated President Donald Trump has officially and unconditionally pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the infamous Silk Road darknet marketplace. 🕶️
Ulbricht, who had been serving a double life sentence plus 40 years (yes, you read that right), was convicted in 2015 for his role in creating Silk Road, a platform that facilitated the sale of everything from illegal drugs to fake IDs—all powered by Bitcoin 💻💊
While Silk Road became a symbol of crypto’s “dark side”, it also played a pivotal role in popularizing Bitcoin in its early days.
The crypto community erupted in celebration. The Free Ross campaign, which had tirelessly advocated for Ulbricht’s release, posted on X:
FREEDOM!!!!
— Free_Ross (@Free_Ross)
4:41 AM • Jan 22, 2025
OG Bitcoiners like Erik Voorhees and Amir Taaki also chimed in, with Taaki declaring, “I owe everything to Ross Ulbricht. Crypto changed my life. Crypto became big because of him.”
So, what’s next for Ross Ulbricht? After 11 years behind bars, he’s finally free, but his legacy remains complicated. Although one thing’s for sure: this pardon is a landmark moment for crypto, signaling a shift in how governments view the intersection of technology, freedom, and crime.
🔒 Major Token Unlocks of the Week
This week we have a rich selection of above-average unlocks. If you plan on opening new market positions, these may pose interesting short opportunities 😉 Not financial advice ofc!
🗞️ From our Blog
💡 1 Minute Learning: Sharding
Imagine a blockchain as a giant library 📚️ but instead of one librarian trying to categorize every single book (transaction), sharding splits the library into smaller sections, each with its own librarian (parallelization).
Source: crypto.com
In crypto terms, sharding is a scaling solution that breaks a blockchain into smaller, more manageable pieces called "shards."
This makes the network faster and more efficient ⚡️
Ethereum and Near blockchain are some of the big players working on sharding to scale their networks.
So, next time someone mentions "sharding," you’ll know it’s not about broken glass 🥛
And that’s a wrap! 🎉 Enjoyed this newsletter? Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.
Got any ideas or feedback? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us an email at [email protected].
DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or make financial decisions. Always do your own research and stay safe out there.