Crypto Morning Brief: Digital Yuan Tops Baidu Hot Search List, Projects Like Helium to Cease Buybacks

Author: TechFlow

Yesterday's Market Dynamics

Berkshire Hathaway's cash and equivalents ratio rises to 31%, hitting a 20-year high

According to Cointelegraph, Berkshire Hathaway currently holds cash and cash equivalents accounting for 31% of its total assets, reaching the highest level in over 20 years.

US Congressman Ritchie Torres to propose bill aiming to ban federal officials from trading in prediction markets using insider information

According to Theblock, US Congressman Ritchie Torres will introduce the "Prediction Market Financial Integrity Act of 2026," which prohibits federal officials from trading in prediction markets using insider information. This move stems from a newly created Polymarket account that placed a bet of approximately $32,000 on the ousting of Venezuelan President Maduro before he was captured by US forces, ultimately profiting over $400,000.

The bill will prohibit federally elected officials, political appointees, and executive branch employees from trading prediction market contracts related to government policies or political outcomes when they possess or may obtain material non-public information through their official duties.

Helium founder: Will stop buybacks, no longer wants to waste funds

Amir, founder of the decentralized telecom infrastructure project Helium, tweeted that the market seems indifferent to the project's buybacks of its tokens from the market. Therefore, under the current circumstances, he has decided to stop wasting funds on buybacks.

He stated that in October last year alone, Helium and its mobile business generated $3.4 million in revenue. He would rather use these funds to expand the business instead of pouring them into a bottomless pit.

Jupiter co-founder seeks community opinion on "whether to suspend JUP buybacks"

Jupiter co-founder SIONG sought community opinion on the X platform regarding whether to suspend JUP buybacks. SIONG said that over $70 million was spent on buybacks last year, but the token price clearly hasn't changed much. He questioned whether this $70 million could be used to reward existing and new users to promote growth.

Currently, whether to stop buybacks is still pending further discussion.

toly comments on Jupiter buyback issue: Staking is better than buybacks, as it can dilute short-term holders

Solana founder toly responded via tweet to Jupiter co-founder's question about "whether to continue token buybacks or provide growth incentives for existing users," stating:

"Capital formation is inherently very difficult—traditional finance typically takes over 10 years to truly complete capital accumulation. Compared to buybacks, I believe a more reasonable path is to replicate this long-term capital structure. In the crypto industry, the mechanism closest to this is actually staking. Participants willing to hold long-term will, by mechanism, dilute those unwilling to hold long-term. Protocols can solidify profits into protocol assets claimable by tokens in the future, allowing users to lock and stake for a year to earn token rewards. As the protocol's balance sheet continues to expand, those choosing long-term staking will gain a larger share of actual equity."

When asked "how to prevent delta-neutral shorting arbitrage," toly said: "Equity itself is linked to the protocol's future profits and grows continuously with future earnings."

Previously, Jupiter's co-founder sought community opinion on "whether to suspend JUP buybacks."

Aave Labs proposes sharing non-protocol revenue to ease community governance disputes

According to Aave founder Stani Kulechov, Aave Labs plans to share revenue generated from non-protocol sources with AAVE token holders and seeks solutions regarding brand assets to address recent community governance disputes. Kulechov stated that this will allow teams to independently develop products on the decentralized Aave protocol, while the protocol benefits from increased usage and revenue. He emphasized the need to align with AAVE holders on a long-term development vision, including expanding into new asset classes such as real-world assets and consumer/institutional lending models.

This proposal responds to community disputes over the allocation of Aave Labs front-end fees and intellectual property ownership. A formal plan will be introduced later to clarify the distribution structure.

Infinex token sale launches, will continue until January 6

The Infinex token sale officially launched today at 14:00 and will continue until 14:00 Beijing Time on January 6.

Previously, it was reported that the valuation for Infinex's token sale has been lowered from an initial $300 million to $99.99 million to better suit the current market environment.

BitMine Chairman Tom Lee calls for increasing authorized share cap to 50 billion shares

According to Coindesk, BitMine Immersion (BMNR) Chairman Tom Lee, in a New Year's letter to shareholders, called for shareholder support for the board's proposed authorized share capital adjustment. The proposal aims to increase the company's authorized share count from 500 million to 50 billion shares. He explicitly stated that this adjustment is not for directly diluting existing shareholders but to reserve institutional space for future financing arrangements, potential M&A transactions, and possible stock splits. The shareholder voting deadline for the related proposal is January 14, and the annual general meeting is scheduled for January 15 in Las Vegas.

"Differences between Digital Yuan and WeChat/Alipay" tops Baidu Hot Search list

"Differences between Digital Yuan and WeChat/Alipay" topped the Baidu Hot Search list. According to Baidu's hot search analysis, starting January 1, the balance in digital yuan wallets will accrue interest based on demand deposit rates. The interpretation of the differences is: the digital yuan is money, equivalent to handing electronic cash directly to merchants; WeChat and Alipay are wallets, where money is taken from the wallet and given to merchants during payment.

xAI's Grok faces regulatory scrutiny in multiple countries over "abuse generating indecent content"

According to reports by Reuters, FT, and other media, Elon Musk's xAI's chatbot Grok has recently been accused of generating sexualized images of women and minors, triggering regulatory scrutiny at an international level. Reuters found over 20 cases on the X platform showing users using Grok to perform "digital stripping" of images, targeting both women and men.

Regarding regulatory progress, several French government ministers have referred the related content to prosecutors and requested the national media regulatory authority to assess whether Grok complies with the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology sent a letter to X's Indian branch, stating it failed to effectively prevent the abuse of Grok and demanding a corrective action report within 3 days.

In response, the official Grok account stated that "CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) is illegal and prohibited," acknowledged security vulnerabilities, and said fixes are being implemented; xAI's public statements have been limited so far.

Tokens like HYPE, ENA, APT to see large token unlocks next week, total value exceeding $400 million

Data from Token Unlocks shows that tokens like HYPE, ENA, and APT will see large token unlocks next week, with a total value exceeding $400 million.

HYPE will unlock 12.46 million tokens on January 6, worth approximately $316.93 million, accounting for 3.61% of circulating supply;

ENA will unlock 171.88 million tokens on January 5, worth approximately $41.59 million, accounting for 2.37% of circulating supply;

APT will unlock 11.31 million tokens on January 11, worth approximately $21.60 million, accounting for 0.70% of circulating supply;

LINEA will unlock 1.38 billion tokens on January 10, worth approximately $9.75 million, accounting for 6.34% of circulating supply;

MOVE will unlock 164.58 million tokens on January 9, worth approximately $6.15 million, accounting for 5.77% of circulating supply;

KUB will unlock 3.31 million tokens on January 11, worth approximately $4.14 million, accounting for 3.56% of circulating supply;

IO will unlock 13.29 million tokens on January 11, worth approximately $2.36 million, accounting for 4.89% of circulating supply;

W will unlock 50.41 million tokens on January 9, worth approximately $1.92 million, accounting for 0.97% of circulating supply;

BB will unlock 29.93 million tokens on January 8, worth approximately $1.86 million, accounting for 3.08% of circulating supply;

AGI will unlock 106.53 million tokens on January 11, worth approximately $1.81 million, accounting for 5.57% of circulating supply;

OP will unlock 4.47 million tokens on January 10, worth approximately $1.40 million, accounting for 0.23% of circulating supply;

RED will unlock 5.54 million tokens on January 6, worth approximately $1.28 million, accounting for 2.29% of circulating supply;

IOTA will unlock 12.37 million tokens on January 7, worth approximately $1.17 million, accounting for 0.33% of circulating supply.

Market Dynamics

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