Trust Wallet has announced a "US Stock Token Trading Competition" for Chinese-speaking users. During the event, users can participate in a prize pool of up to $150,000 by depositing USDT and trading Ondo Finance US stock tokens. The competition features multiple incentive mechanisms: users who deposit will receive a $1,888 subsidy; trading any US stock token with ≥10 USDT and holding for 7 days will qualify for a share of the $128,888 NVDAon prize pool, with a 100% chance of winning on a first-come, first-served basis; users who hold for 14 consecutive days will also receive an additional $19,440 continuous holding bonus. Trust Wallet is a self-custodied Web3 wallet supporting over 100 public chains and more than 10 million assets, with over 220 million downloads globally. It is understood that Trust Wallet will further collaborate with Ondo Finance to expand its RWA (Real-World Asset) category.

New York silver futures saw a substantial intraday increase of 8%, reaching $95.62 per ounce. According to NS3.AI, this sudden rise indicates heightened market activity and a growing demand for silver. The price movement highlights significant volatility and investor interest in the precious metal during the trading session.

Hungarian regulator Szabályozott Tevékenységek Felügyeleti Hatósága announced a temporary block on the domain name and subdomains of the prediction market Polymarket, citing "organizing gambling activities as illegal." The restriction is expected to remain in effect until the regulator completes its review. Users have already reported being unable to access the Polymarket platform using Hungarian IP addresses. (Cointelegraph)

Paradex encountered a rollback due to a pricing glitch that resulted in liquidations on its platform. According to NS3.AI, this incident has sparked significant concerns regarding the platform's reliability and risk management protocols. The glitch underscores the technical vulnerabilities that can affect user positions and overall market stability.

PayPal has announced that it will provide free self-service tax filing for its debit card users, including free federal and state tax filing services for U.S. PayPal Debit Mastercard users in 2025. According to Odaily, PayPal's official website indicates that users must report cryptocurrency transactions on its platform. Starting from the 2025 tax year, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service requires digital asset brokers like PayPal to report gains from digital asset disposals on Form 1099-DA. If users dispose of digital assets, such as selling or exchanging cryptocurrency within the applicable tax year, PayPal will send the IRS Form 1099-DA to users by February 15.

South Korea's financial regulators are scrutinizing the practice that links each cryptocurrency exchange to a single banking partner, as part of a broader assessment of competition within the nation's crypto market. According to Cointelegraph, this review is being coordinated between the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Fair Trade Commission, with policymakers examining whether current practices contribute to market concentration. Although the 'one exchange–one bank' model is not explicitly enshrined in South Korean law, it has developed in practice due to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and customer due diligence requirements. Consequently, crypto exchanges have typically formed exclusive partnerships with domestic banks to facilitate fiat transactions for customers. The policy discussions reportedly follow a government-commissioned research project that analyzes the virtual asset trading market and the competitive impact of key regulations in South Korea. The study explored the structure of the crypto market and assessed how existing regulations might influence competition among domestic exchanges. The report, obtained by the Herald Economy, concluded that the exchange-bank pairing model could reinforce market concentration by restricting banking access for newer or smaller exchanges. While the model aims to manage compliance risk, the study found that applying uniform standards to exchanges with varying risk profiles and volumes may be disproportionate. Researchers noted that the Korean won-based crypto market remains highly concentrated around a few large platforms. In such markets, liquidity and transaction efficiency tend to favor dominant players, potentially entrenching incumbents when barriers to entry persist. The reported review coincides with preparations for the second phase of South Korea's crypto legislation, known as the Digital Asset Basic Act. On December 31, lawmakers postponed the submission of the bill to 2026 due to unresolved disagreements over the supervision of domestic stablecoin issuers. The proposed legislation, supported by President Lee Jae-myung, would permit the issuance of won-pegged stablecoins while requiring issuers to entrust reserve assets to authorized custodians such as banks. The debate focuses on whether a dedicated oversight body should pre-approve issuers, with the FSC evaluating how to balance oversight with a framework that allows participation from non-financial technology companies.

According to Bloomberg, crypto assets added approximately $1.4 billion to the Trump family's wealth over the past year, bringing the proportion of cryptocurrency in their total net worth of approximately $6.8 billion to about one-fifth for the first time. During Trump's second term, the Trump family has seen significant gains through new projects such as the co-founded crypto platform World Liberty Financial, its named Meme coin, and the Bitcoin mining company American Bitcoin Corp. World Liberty's platform token and stablecoin USD1 business have seen particularly significant valuations. Meanwhile, the stock price of its social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, has fallen 66% in the past 12 months, partially offsetting the gains from crypto assets. Family members have also invested in companies like SpaceX through venture capital firm 1789 Capital and expanded the Trump Organization's global real estate licensing business. The White House press secretary responded that the government is fulfilling the president's promise to make the United States a global hub for crypto capital through executive action and policy. (Bloomberg)

According to official sources, Gate has now launched pre-market trading of SKR perpetual contracts (USDT settlement), supporting leverage of 1-10x.

Corporate executives worldwide are turning to artificial intelligence and company acquisitions to fuel expansion despite mounting economic pressures, new research shows. A survey by EY-Parthenon released Tuesday found that business chiefs plan to speed up rather than scale back investments even as geopolitical tensions and trade disputes create headwinds. The poll, conducted alongside the World Economic Forum […] source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/global-ceos-reveal-aggressive-ai-plans/

Brevis has announced a partnership with stablecoin protocol USD8 to develop a decentralized insurance system designed to protect users against hacks or de-pegging incidents in the DeFi space. According to NS3.AI, this system will reward users with points based on the duration they hold assets. These points are calculated using Brevis's ProverNet, which employs zero-knowledge proofs rather than relying on centralized servers. The initiative aims to satisfy Vitalik Buterin's walk-away test and is planning for a beta launch in the second quarter.

Crypto influencer Ben Armstrong, known as BitBoy, was arrested again in June on charges related to harassing phone calls. This is part of a series of legal troubles he has faced recently, raising concerns about accountability in the crypto community.