PANews

Today's News Highlights:
Prince Group founder Chen Zhi is deported back to China, suspected of operating illegal casinos, fraud, and other crimes
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee schedules the review of the Crypto Market Structure Act for January 15
Rumble and Tether jointly launch the non-custodial crypto wallet Rumble Wallet
Decentralized protocol Babylon completes $15 million funding round, led by a16z Crypto
Fireblocks acquires crypto accounting platform TRES Finance for $130 million
Solana

Author: Frank, PANews
Previously, PANews conducted in-depth research on prediction market strategies, one of the key findings being that: whether many arbitrage strategies can succeed may not be limited by the mathematical formulas of the strategies, but rather by the liquidity depth of the prediction markets themselves.
Recently, after Polymarket announced the launch of the US real estate prediction market, this phenomenon seems to have become even more apparent. Since its launch, the daily trading volume of this series of markets has only been a few hundred dollars, far from the expected lively activity. Its actual market popularity is much lower than the discussion on social media. This seems to be a humorous and abnormal situation, so we may need to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the liquidity of prediction markets to reveal some truths about liquidity in prediction markets.
PANews retrieved historical data of 295,000 markets on Polymarket to date, resulting in

Author: Chainalysis
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
In response to the ongoing attacks by North Korean hackers on the cryptocurrency industry over the years, Chainalysis focused on analyzing North Korean hacking activities in the 2025 Hacker Attack Report. Below are the details.
Key Points:
- North Korean hackers stole $2.02 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in 2025, a 51% increase year-over-year. Despite fewer attacks, their total stolen amount has reached $6.75 billion.
- North Korean hackers have stolen more cryptocurrencies with fewer attacks, often by infiltrating internal IT staff within crypto services or using sophisticated impersonation strategies targeting executives.
- North Korean hackers clearly favor Chinese money laundering services, cross-chain bridge services, and mixing protocols. After major theft events, their money laundering cycle is approximately 45 days.
202

整理 & 编译：深潮 TechFlow
Guests: Mike Ippolito, Co-founder of Blockworks, Host: David Hoffman, Bankless
Key Takeaways
David Hoffman and Mike Ippolito discuss why 2025, despite reaching new all-time highs, appears to be exceptionally challenging, and why this tension is crucial for 2026. They believe the crypto industry is entering a phase similar to "Internet in 2002" — a period of declining speculation, increasing focus on fundamentals, and accelerated industry consolidation. The conversation covers reasons why Ethereum might experience a revival, why Bitcoin sentiment could face difficulties, predictions for the market and perpetual contracts, and how builders and investors should adapt as the crypto industry shifts from hype to genuine value creation.

Author: Haseeb ＞|＜, Dragonfly Partner
Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow
LPs sometimes ask me who I consider the most outstanding venture capitalists in the crypto space.
I've thought about this a lot.
Since I started engaging in crypto venture investing, I've always aspired to be the best. I am passionate about competition, and investing is the purest form of competition. Only one person can win a deal, only one can pick the winner of this cycle.
But when you honestly examine and carefully calculate, you'll find that three people have already proven themselves as the "Greatest of All Time" (GOAT) in crypto VC.
This might sound a bit like bragging (it is), and it may not be very appealing to those who are not in crypto VC. But I am a crypto VC. This article is dedicated to those of us who have made this our lifelong career.

2026 will become the key year for large-scale institutional adoption of blockchain, with stablecoins being the most fundamental and largest-scale blockchain application. Trend Research believes that WLFI (World Liberty Financial) and its launched USD1 stablecoin will become one of the fastest-growing and most widely used blockchain projects. In the future era of on-chain finance, it will have comprehensive advantages such as compliance, branding, users, and liquidity, forming the infrastructure for a market worth hundreds of trillions of dollars in on-chain finance.
1. Stablecoin Explosion Is Ready to Burst
"Throughout the history of financial technology, almost never have we seen such a level of global project startup. The business model of stablecoins is fostering a new wave of founders, builders, and products. They are no longer limited by geopolitical barriers. From the very first moment of product launch, their goal is the global market."
1. Growth Trend of Stablecoins

Today's News Highlights:
Multiple regions warn about "taste test card" scams involving virtual currencies, using "free benefits" as a front to attract cyber fraud
Polymarket denies US military invasion of Venezuela, sparking strong user dissatisfaction
Morgan Stanley submits S-1 registration documents for Solana Trust and Bitcoin Trust to the US SEC
MSCI maintains digital asset companies in its index, will conduct broader reviews
Binance Wallet's exclusive TGE Phase 44 launches ZenChain (ZTC), subscription opens on January 7
Walmart launches Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services through its OnePay app
Analyst: Founder of SpiderPool may be one of the "1011 insider whale" agents; 886,000 ETH linked to the whale has recently been fully unstaked
Bitwise approved by the US SEC to list on NYSE

Li Feifei stated that artificial intelligence has achieved significant breakthroughs, and she is excited about future developments. A new wave of generative AI will enable machines to possess spatial intelligence closer to that of humans. She founded World Labs to promote the implementation of spatial intelligence and create value.

Author: Jae, PANews
At the start of 2026, Sui kicked off the year with a 30% surge in one week, marking a "green opening."
While most Layer 1 public chains are still competing over TPS and ecosystem numbers, Sui is waiting for its ticket to the Wall Street arena. Recently, the world's largest crypto asset management firms, Grayscale and Bitwise, submitted applications for Sui spot ETFs to the US SEC. This means that the SUI token will soon be evaluated alongside BTC and ETH in the institutional asset basket.
However, beneath the glamorous narrative of "Silicon Valley's darling" transforming into "Wall Street's new star," Sui is also undergoing a severe test: can it embrace traditional capital while becoming a trustworthy ecosystem foundation in the market?
Multiple data indices are growing exponentially, with a large influx of new users
Over the past two and a half years, the Sui ecosystem has shown exponential

Author: Zen, PANews
As funds shift from broad-based outreach to targeted harvesting, the market is entering a phase driven more by "quality" than "quantity." In this silent reshuffle of 2025, centralized finance (CeFi) has returned to the spotlight with massive funding rounds, the narrative of Web3 and AI integration is steadily advancing, infrastructure and DeFi remain the mainstays, while the once-glamorous Web3 gaming sector has faded into the background.
PANews has compiled 839 disclosed funding events in the blockchain sector in 2025. Following the flow of $23.7 billion in capital, it offers insights into investors' choices and tracks the rise of the next high-value territory.
Overall Market Review: Doubling of Funding Scale Coexists with Shrinking Transaction Volume
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, in 2025, the blockchain sector's primary market disclosed a total of 839 investment and financing events, with a total funding amount exceeding $23.7 billion. In terms of the number of financings,

The article discusses the relationship between investors' pursuit of excess returns (Alpha) and market performance (Beta), pointing out that although having Alpha can theoretically lead to better returns, in practice, market performance is often more critical. Historical data shows that market performance during different investment periods can significantly impact investment returns. Therefore, investors are advised to focus on controllable factors such as career development and personal health, rather than solely pursuing excess returns.

Interview: The Round Trip
Compiled & Edited by Yuliya, PANews
As the AI wave sweeps the globe at an unprecedented speed, a "arms race" centered around computing power has already begun. When Nvidia's market value surpasses one trillion, and giants like AWS and Google Cloud almost monopolize cloud computing power, a profound challenge faces all AI innovators: Will the high concentration of computing power stifle open innovation and lock the future of AI within the "walled gardens" of a few companies?
With a successful track record of selling a company for $60 million to Snapchat and founding Product Science, which provides AI code optimization services for top enterprises, Gonka AI's co-founders David and Daniel

In 2025, competition among consumer AI intensifies, with ChatGPT user stickiness exceeding 90%, leading the market. Competitors like Gemini are growing rapidly, while Anthropic focuses on technical users. The ultimate winner of AI assistants remains uncertain.