BTC Hits New High, But Trump Ignores It at Inauguration Speech

BTC Hits New High, But Trump Ignores It at Inauguration Speech

President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech on Monday made no mention of Bitcoin or cryptocurrency, dampening expectations for immediate crypto-friendly announcements.

Bitcoin’s price, which had surged past $109,000 overnight, fell sharply during the speech, hovering just above $100,000 as market enthusiasm waned. Meanwhile, Polymarket betting odds for the creation of a US strategic Bitcoin reserve within Trump’s first 100 days have dropped from 60% to 40%.

Despite the omission, Trump has promised policies favorable to disruptive technologies, starting with crypto and AI. His actions so far include appointing former PayPal COO David Sacks as the White House’s “A.I. & Crypto Czar” and nominating crypto advocate Paul Atkins to lead the SEC.

While reports indicate that Trump will issue approximately 100 executive orders over the next day, including making cryptocurrency a national priority, markets are expected to remain volatile, with over $1 billion already liquidated, mainly from leveraged long traders.

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Melania Trump's Memecoin Sparks Crypto Community Backlash

Melania Trump launched the MELANIA meme coin just 2 days after her husband’s TRUMP token, causing widespread criticism from the crypto community. The token, which reached a $5.7 billion fully diluted valuation, is accused of massively diluting the value of TRUMP, which dropped from $75 to $45, hitting a low of $34.

"Incredible. They actually launched a second MELANIA memecoin right in the middle of the first, signaling zero scarcity," said investor Balaji Srinivasan. "This is obviously a huge disappointment as it will dilute the Trump coin," wrote popular trader Daan Crypto Trades on X.

Observers also noted poor planning for MELANIA compared to TRUMP, pointing out its lack of multisig wallets and last-minute website creation without security measures.

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Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht Warns Against Unofficial Memecoins

Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, issued a warning from prison about scams involving meme coins using his name. In a Jan. 19 post on X, Ulbricht stated there is “no official Ross coin” associated with him. This came after the ROSS memecoin, launched in May 2024, saw a price surge ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration, prompting concerns about pump-and-dump schemes.

Ulbricht remains in custody with a life sentence, though Trump has pledged to commute his sentence “on day one.” Meanwhile, some crypto users reported falling victim to scams tied to unofficial tokens linked to Trump or his family. As President Biden issued his final pardons, including some high-profile political figures, Ulbricht awaits to see if Trump will follow through on his promise to secure his release.

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Ethereum Foundation to Stake $1 Billion of ETH

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revealed that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) is considering staking its nearly $1 billion in ETH holdings. Buterin cited concerns about regulatory risks and the potential complications during network hard forks as reasons for hesitation in the past but noted that the regulatory situation has improved.

Buterin shared the foundation had been exploring ways to minimize risks. As of October 2024, the EF held 269,000 ETH, worth $891 million, representing 0.26% of the total supply. If staked through platforms like Lido Finance, the holdings could generate approximately $26.2 million annually, far below the foundation’s annual spending of $134.7 million.

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Data of the Day

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi platform linked to President Donald Trump and his sons, purchased over $100 million in crypto hours before Trump’s inauguration. The protocol acquired $47 million each of wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) and Ethereum (ETH), in tandem with his inauguration as the 47th president of the United States.

The project also scooped about $4.4 million of AAVE, $4.5 million of Tron’s TRX, $4.5 million of Ethena’s ENA, and $5.5 million of Chainlink’s LINK.  The token purchases follow a lackluster October launch, with over 21.7 billion WLFI tokens sold as of Monday morning, worth $1.08 billion.

WLFI has been publicly championed by Trump, who serves as its "Chief Crypto Advocate," with his sons Eric and Donald Jr. acting as "Web3 Ambassadors" and Barron Trump titled as "DeFi Visionary."

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More Breaking News

• Crypto ETPs saw $2.2 billion in inflows last week, led by Bitcoin ETFs and driven by euphoria surrounding President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
• Solana’s daily transaction fees hit a record $33 million as Trump-themed meme coins boosted onchain activity and trading volumes.
• Gemini selected Malta as its European MiCA compliance hub, leveraging the country’s fintech-friendly environment for regulatory alignment.
• An unofficial Barron Trump memecoin peaked at a $460 million market cap before crashing 95% amid unfounded rumors of its origin.
• EU’s financial regulator ESMA urged firms to restrict non-MiCA-compliant stablecoins by January 31, tightening regulatory oversight in the region.
• Rumble, a Tether-backed streaming platform, made its first Bitcoin purchase, with plans to invest up to $20 million in BTC.

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