Small-Cap Stocks Continue to Outperform; Bitcoin Ends Four-Day Rally
Summary
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Macroeconomy: TSMC delivered strong earnings, significantly boosting market risk sentiment and driving a broad rebound in U.S. equities, with all major indices closing higher. Notably, the Russell small-cap index has outperformed the S&P 500 for ten consecutive trading days, signaling a continued expansion in risk appetite.
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Crypto Market: For the third consecutive day, the crypto market and U.S. equities alternated in relative strength. Bitcoin faced resistance near the 97k level and pulled back, ending its prior four-day winning streak. Bitcoin’s market dominance continued to rise, approaching the 60% threshold, indicating that capital remains concentrated in BTC while altcoins weakened broadly, intensifying structural divergence.
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Project Updates
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Trending tokens: BYTE, FHE
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Privacy sector led the gainers, with tokens such as DCR, ZEN, FHE, and H rotating higher
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CME to launch ADA, LINK, and XLM futures
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Major Asset Movements
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Crypto Fear & Greed Index: 49 (vs. 61 24 hours ago), level: Greed
Today’s Outlook
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ARB token unlock: 1.86% of circulating supply, valued at approximately USD 19.2 million
Macroeconomy
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Trump: While investigating Powell, he has no plan to remove him directly
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U.S. initial jobless claims fell to 198,000 last week, the lowest level since November last year
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U.S. aircraft carrier strike group headed to the Middle East; Trump reportedly seeks a “quick resolution,” while the U.S. Treasury announced new sanctions on Iran
Policy Direction
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South Korea’s National Assembly passed amendments to the Capital Markets Act and the Electronic Securities Act, formally establishing a regulatory framework for the issuance and circulation of security tokens (STOs)
Industry Highlights
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Bitmine announced a USD 200 million investment in Beast Industries, owned by MrBeast
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Tom Lee: Vitalik Buterin and Sam Altman will attend the BitMine shareholders’ meeting
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CME to launch ADA, LINK, and XLM futures
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State Street to roll out a tokenization platform, planning tokenized funds and stablecoin products
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Goldman Sachs CEO stated on the latest earnings call that the firm is increasing efforts to research tokenization, stablecoins, and prediction markets
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DTCC (U.S.) plans to digitize 1.4 million securities, advancing comprehensive tokenization of capital markets
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Interactive Brokers enabled 24/7 USDC deposits and will support Ripple and PayPal stablecoins next week
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BSC Foundation made additional purchases of ecosystem tokens “Binance Life” and “Wo Ta Ma Lai Le,” totaling nearly USD 200,000
Industry Highlights Extended Analysis
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Bitmine’s Strategic Investment in MrBeast: Merging Content Traffic with Web3 Finance
Bitmine (BMNR), the world’s largest corporate Ethereum treasury holding over 4 million ETH, has invested $200 million in MrBeast’s "Beast Industries." This marks a landmark marriage between top-tier content traffic and crypto capital. Beyond reaching MrBeast’s 450 million+ global subscribers, the core strategy lies in utilizing Bitmine’s DeFi stack to convert traditional short-video traffic into Web3 financial users. This signals a future where top creators move beyond ad-revenue sharing toward building their own tokenized financial ecosystems.
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Vitalik and Sam Altman’s Meeting Attendance: A Summit of AI and Blockchain
The joint appearance of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the Bitmine shareholders’ meeting is deeply symbolic. At a technical level, it suggests that AI computing governance is converging with decentralized, trustless blockchain architectures. For Bitmine, the endorsement of these two leaders serves to legitimize its aggressive financing plan to increase authorized shares 100-fold (from 500 million to 50 billion). It signals that future crypto giants will not just hold assets but will act as the financial bedrock for the AI-driven digital transformation.
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CME Launching Altcoin Futures: The Deepening Institutionalization of Derivatives
CME’s plan to launch ADA, LINK, and XLM futures on February 9th means that more high-quality mainstream assets are entering the regulated, institutional-grade trading market following BTC, ETH, XRP, and SOL. This move will significantly enhance liquidity and professionalize market pricing for these tokens. As derivative toolsets mature, these assets are more likely to become staples in hedge fund portfolios, while also paving the regulatory path for future Spot ETFs by establishing monitored market frameworks.
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State Street’s Tokenization Platform: The Era of "Native Tokenization" for Custody Giants
As a global custody giant managing hundreds of trillions in assets, State Street’s rollout of a tokenization platform for funds and stablecoins marks the formal transition of Traditional Finance (TradFi) from experimentation to full-scale deployment. This is not just a tech upgrade but a paradigm shift in back-office settlement logic. By using stablecoins to bridge on-chain capital with off-chain assets, State Street is building a 24/7 closed-loop financial infrastructure that aims to eliminate the delays inherent in cross-border payments and fund share transfers.
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Goldman Sachs’ Focus on Prediction Markets: Reimagining the Essence of Finance
The statements made by Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon during the latest earnings call reflect Wall Street’s serious interest in RWA (Real-World Asset) tokenization and prediction markets. The specific mention of prediction markets shows institutional recognition of "on-chain information wagering" as a legitimate new financial instrument. Goldman’s involvement will bring stricter compliance standards and massive liquidity to the sector, pushing blockchain tech to become a foundational tool for increasing transparency and efficiency in global capital markets.
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DTCC Digitizing 1.4 Million Securities: A Foundation Overhaul of Capital Markets
The U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the "ledger center" of the American capital market, is advancing a "burn and mint" mechanism to digitize 1.4 million types of securities. This represents the largest digital migration in the history of financial infrastructure. It foreshadows a world where T+0 settlement, real-time collateral management, and zero-latency liquidity become industry standards, significantly reducing systemic risk and forcing other global markets to accelerate their blockchain adoption.
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Interactive Brokers’ 24/7 Deposits: Breaking the Time Barriers of TradFi
By enabling 24/7 USDC deposits and adding support for Ripple (RLUSD) and PayPal (PYUSD) stablecoins, Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is solving the biggest pain point for traditional brokerages: idle capital during non-banking hours. This allows investors to react to global market volatility in real-time during weekends or holidays. As a benchmark for traditional brokers, IBKR’s total embrace of compliant stablecoins will accelerate the seamless integration of fiat and crypto, positioning stablecoins as the "circulatory system" of future global finance.
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BSC Foundation’s Ecosystem Buys: Official Backing of Community Sentiment
The BSC Foundation’s purchase of ecosystem tokens like "Binance Life" and "Wo Ta Ma Lai Le" reflects a shift in strategy where official entities support meme assets that possess strong community consensus. This move to use "skin in the game" rather than just verbal support is designed to activate on-chain activity and emotional value within the BSC ecosystem. It proves that in a mature crypto market, meme coins are no longer peripheral but are core components for building brand loyalty and onboarding new users.