Release Date: January 14, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Department

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has seen synchronized developments across multiple dimensions. Mainstream discussions have centered on the trust controversies sparked by "reputation/emotion financialization" products, as well as the risk spillovers exposed by data platform mergers and acquisitions and the Rug incident involving a politician's token. In terms of ecosystem development, Solana has accelerated experimentation with new applications, Ethereum has seen rising interest in "real-time execution" infrastructure, and the Perp DEX sector continues to intensify its competition in mobile integration and liquidity.

I. Mainstream Topics

Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) project Zama announced that it will launch a public auction for the $ZAMA token through CoinList and other channels, using a sealed-bid Dutch auction mechanism. The total token supply is 11 billion, with 8% (880 million tokens) allocated for the auction. The floor fully diluted valuation (FDV) is $55 million.

The sale will be conducted in phases: OG NFT holders will have a 2% priority allocation (January 15–20); 8% will be auctioned via the CoinList channel (January 21–24); and the remaining 2% will enter a follow-up auction (January 27–February 2). The TGE is expected on February 2, with 100% of tokens unlocked. Zama emphasized that CoinList is only one of the bidding channels, and all successful bidders will transact at the same clearing price, not through individually priced separate sales. The project's positioning focuses on on-chain privacy, institutional-grade applications, and RWA (Real-World Assets) use cases.

The community's reaction is clearly polarized. Optimists acknowledge the long-term potential of FHE and believe the low FDV provides a "cost-effective" window, while the auction mechanism is also seen as relatively fair. However, negative sentiment is more concentrated on short-term price performance. The low presale price has continuously pressured the pre-market (with a drop of over 13% at one point), and many users have criticized the "continuously falling price" and "not even x times upon waking up." Additionally, the CoinList participation experience is repeatedly mentioned. Overall sentiment remains cautious, with market attention focused on the potential sell pressure from the 100% unlock at TGE.

According to an exclusive report by CoinDesk, crypto data platform CoinGecko is considering a potential sale at a valuation of around $500 million and has hired investment banks such as Moelis as advisors. As a long-standing data entry point in the market, CoinGecko's monthly visits have dropped from 43.5 million in 2024 to 18.5 million by December 2025, with one key factor being the displacement of "data query demand" by AI tools. This potential sale is also seen as a continuation of the crypto M&A wave and a reflection of the transformation pressures faced by data platforms.

The community as a whole has shown a reaction of "surprise + positive evaluation." Many people believe that growing from a price tracker into a "half-billion-dollar business" is a very strong business achievement, with some even joking, "Maybe I should buy one." At the same time, there are also concerns focused on traffic decline caused by AI disruption, as well as potential future integration, monopolization, or changes in product form. However, overall, this discussion more closely resembles a "dignified exit," and it is also seen as one of the signals of industry consolidation.

Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched a meme token, $NYC, claiming it aims to counter anti-Semitism and anti-American sentiment while supporting blockchain education and youth innovation. The token quickly listed on Solana, with its initial market cap surging to between $10 million and $17.5 million. However, the team soon removed liquidity (suspected rug pull), causing the price to crash and investors to lose over $2.5 million. On-chain analysis also pointed to signs of liquidity provider manipulation and insider trading, showcasing a typical "politician token arbitrage" pattern.

Public opinion is almost uniformly negative, widely labeling it as "one of the worst rugs" and portraying Adams as a textbook example of someone who "promotes publicly and then runs away." Some even bluntly stated that "the FBI should arrest him." Many discussions compare it to Trump/Melania-related tokens, focusing on the regulatory gray areas and the risks of tokenizing power. Although a few posts still attempt to highlight its "educational theme," they are largely drowned out by accusations of fraud and exploitation. The sentiment is strong and highly consistent: celebrity/politician tokens carry extremely high risks and require caution.

Lighter, a blockchain-based perpetual and spot DEX, has officially launched iOS and Android mobile apps, covering perpetual contracts, RWA (Real-World Assets), pre-sales, and other features. It has also launched a mobile trading competition offering 100,000 LIT tokens in rewards, aiming to attract trading volume from CEXs and improve the on-chain trading experience. Meanwhile, the community is closely watching potential sell pressure: a single entity recently withdrew nearly 10 million LIT tokens (approximately $26 million) from the LLP (Liquidity Provider Pool), with part of it already sold (around $4.7 million), representing about 4% of the circulating supply, thus increasing short-term price pressure.

The overall sentiment regarding the mobile launch is largely positive, with many viewing it as another validation of the "perp DEX quietly rising." The self-custody experience is considered a key selling point. However, discussions around large whale selling have also brought noticeable FUD, such as a reevaluation of whether it's still worth farming airdrops and concerns about the platform's liquidity absorption capacity. Some perspectives suggest that the market has gradually absorbed the selling pressure and continue to remain optimistic about its long-term potential (often compared to other perp DEX platforms). Overall, the sentiment is cautiously positive, with the focus centered on balancing the advantages of self-custody, growth trajectory, and liquidity challenges.

II. Mainstream Ecosystem Trends

The Solana-based social token platform Believe App has released a v2 beta version for iOS, introducing a so-called "Human Emotion Market" trading mechanism. Users can now make perpetual bets on the rise and fall of an individual's reputation using the Believe and Doubt tokens. The first market launched corresponds to the founder, Ben Pasternak, with a current "belief value" of 62%. This market will never settle, and the total value of Believe and Doubt tokens will always remain fixed at $1. The project team stated that in the early phase, they will mainly "manually deploy high-profile individuals," and in the future, the platform may expand to any X account and introduce a fee-sharing mechanism. Overall, this version aims to use "real-time sentiment tracking" as an entry point, simplifying the transition from memecoins to prediction markets.

The community feedback is clearly negative and emotionally charged. The controversy is not about the product design itself, but rather Ben Pasternak's past actions and trustworthiness: many users have raised concerns about his previous controversial dumping behavior in KLED-related projects, directly labeling him as a "rug puller" and a "clown show," and calling for avoiding any collaboration with him. Although there are a few voices acknowledging the innovative direction of "real-time emotional/reputation pricing," these were quickly drowned out by mockery and skepticism. The overall sentiment is one of outrage, with the core issues centered on fairness, sustainability, and credible execution.

The ETHGas Foundation has announced the launch of its governance token, $GWEI, to manage the "Real-time Ethereum" infrastructure, aiming to alleviate delays and volatility caused by the blind bidding in blockspace. The project hopes to achieve a low-friction experience through a programmable blockspace market, including features such as predictable execution, gasless UX, and pre-confirmations. Details about the token generation event (TGE) will be announced soon, with the snapshot scheduled for 00:00 UTC on January 19. The project has disclosed that it has secured $12 million in funding from institutions such as Polychain and claims to have blockspace commitments valued at $8 billion.

The overall discussion is leaning positive, with market sentiment more closely aligned with the excitement surrounding the "Ethereum infrastructure-level narrative." A large number of users have started sharing related links and referral information, with some discussions directly pointing to expectations of potential airdrops and token allocations. A minority of voices remain cautious about its tokenization roadmap and execution risks. However, the mainstream view still leans toward the belief that this is a positive response to the issues of "transaction experience friction" and "execution finality," representing an extension of the narrative around Ethereum's practical utility.

The Perp DEX sector is heating up further. New platform Markets (@kinetiq_xyz) delivered strong performance on its first day of launch: depth of around $1.6M, spread of 0.14 bps, and slippage of 0.07 bps. Compared to TradeXYZ (depth of $1.8M, spread of 0.39 bps, and slippage of 0.19 bps), Markets demonstrated a significantly better trading experience. The platform's first-day trading volume exceeded $70 million. Meanwhile, the stablecoin USDH's supply hit a new all-time high of $76 million, which is believed to be driven by the new demand generated from the launch of Markets.

In addition, Cascade has launched final pre-allocation (January 21 at 12 PM ET, with a $5 million cap and proportional scaling), while Lighter has launched iOS/Android mobile apps and launched a mobile trading competition with a 100,000 LIT prize pool (launched on January 15). Another clue is that Kraken's Nado DEX recorded a new 24-hour trading volume record of $1 billion.

The community remains generally optimistic, with discussions focusing on "growth validation" and "restructuring of the competitive landscape." Markets is praised as "flawless execution" and seen as a direct competitor to TradeXYZ; USDH is viewed as a beneficiary within the ecosystem, with its product-market fit (PMF) narrative further reinforced. Cascade's allocation mechanism has triggered a surge in requests for invites and word-of-mouth promotion. Lighter's mobile launch has generated positive feedback for bringing "on-chain trading experiences closer to CEX," but some FUD has also emerged around fund withdrawal/unlocking risks. Nado's $1 billion trading volume is seen as a reflection of Kraken's endorsement and influence. Overall, the perpetual DEX sector is entering a phase of accelerated development characterized by "product usability + data growth + traffic competition."

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) has launched the Markets lending platform, backed by Dolomite's backend infrastructure, offering functionalities such as deposits, lending, and position management, with a focus on transparency and high-performance liquidity. The project is positioned for institutional-grade applications, targeting use cases such as real-world assets (RWA) and stablecoins (e.g., USD1). Dolomite highlights its design capabilities in capital efficiency, virtual liquidity, modular architecture, and risk management, stating that it can serve as key infrastructure for WLFI in bridging TradFi and DeFi.

The community discussion is generally positive, with many viewing it as a new milestone in the "institutionalization of DeFi," especially expressing anticipation for Dolomite's upgraded positioning and potential TVL growth. Some opinions have also compared it to a competitor of Aave, sparking discussions around valuation and token economics. A minority of voices have mentioned regulatory uncertainty, but it has not become the dominant topic. The overall sentiment remains optimistic, with a key consensus being that the entry of institutional capital requires not only a compliance narrative, but also a usable and stable lending infrastructure.

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