Crypto Morning News: X Revokes API Access for "Reward-for-Posting Apps," Bitmine Invests in MrBeast

Author: TechFlow

Yesterday's Market Dynamics

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims for the Week Ending January 10: 198,000, Forecast 215,000

According to Jin10 News, initial jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending January 10 came in at 198,000, below the expected 215,000. The previous figure was revised downward from 208,000 to 207,000.

Senate Banking Committee Cancels Market Structure Hearing Amid Coinbase Controversy

Per Eleanor Terrett’s report, the Senate Banking Committee has announced the cancellation of tomorrow’s scheduled market structure hearing due to today’s controversy involving Coinbase. A new date has not yet been set.

CME Group to Launch Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar Futures

CME Group announced it will launch futures contracts for Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and Stellar (XLM) on February 9, expanding its suite of crypto derivatives offerings.

Fogo Announces Airdrop Claim Portal Open

According to an official announcement, SVM Layer1 blockchain project Fogo has opened its airdrop claim portal.

X Revokes API Access for “Reward-for-Posting” Applications

Nikita Bier, X product lead and Solana ecosystem advisor, reported that X is revising its developer API policy and will no longer allow apps that reward users for posting content on X. Bier stated such applications have led to an influx of AI-generated low-quality content and spam replies. X has revoked API access for these apps, with user experience improvements expected soon. Developers whose API access has been terminated will be assisted in migrating their operations to Threads and Bluesky.

Interactive Brokers Launches USDC Round-the-Clock Account Funding, Plans to Add More Stablecoins

According to The Block, traditional brokerage firm Interactive Brokers has announced support for traders to fund accounts using Circle’s USDC on a 24/7 basis, enabling round-the-clock trading capabilities.

CEO Milan Galik said stablecoins offer faster, lower-cost, and globally accessible funding compared to traditional wire transfers. The integration is powered by crypto infrastructure provider Zerohash, allowing users to send USDC via Ethereum, Solana, or Base networks. The funds are automatically converted into USD and deposited into brokerage accounts. Interactive Brokers plans to expand support to additional stablecoins such as Ripple’s RLUSD and PayPal’s PYUSD as early as next week.

State Street Launches Digital Asset Platform, Expanding Crypto Business

Bloomberg reports that State Street Corporation, a global custodian bank, has launched a digital asset platform to expand its presence in this rapidly growing asset class. According to a statement from the Boston-based firm, the new platform will develop and support money market funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and cash products including tokenized deposits and stablecoins.

MilkyWay Protocol Announces Permanent Shutdown

In an official announcement, MilkyWay Protocol declared it will permanently shut down and commence liquidation proceedings.

The decision stems from insufficient growth in decentralized finance demand, short-lived restaking demand, disruptions in physical asset tokenization plans, and lack of funding.

MilkyWay completed a snapshot on January 14, after which protocol fees will be automatically distributed proportionally to MILK token holders in USDC. All liquid staking functions are now disabled, and existing positions will be automatically unstaked. Originally launched as Celestia’s first liquid staking token (LST) provider, MilkyWay later expanded into the Initia and Babylon ecosystems, experimenting with restaking, physical asset tokenization, and payment card services.

Polygon Cuts Nearly 30% of Workforce, Shifts Focus to Payments Strategy

BeInCrypto reports that Polygon has laid off approximately 30% of its employees, part of integration efforts following its acquisitions of Coinme and Sequence. The company is shifting away from traditional narratives around scaling and DeFi toward an "open money stack" strategy centered on stablecoin payments. Polygon’s CEO confirmed the layoffs but noted that overall headcount is expected to remain stable with the addition of newly acquired teams.

Coingecko Co-Founder Responds to Sale Rumors: Regularly Evaluates Strategic Opportunities, Operations Normal

In response to reports suggesting crypto data platform CoinGecko is considering a sale at a ~$500 million valuation, co-founder and CEO Bobby Ong posted on X addressing widespread inquiries. He stated that after 12 years of operating CoinGecko, like any growing and profitable company, they regularly assess strategic opportunities to strengthen the business and accelerate their mission. While declining to comment on specific transactions, he expressed excitement about possibilities that could better serve users and advance institutional crypto adoption. Ong emphasized that CoinGecko will continue normal operations without changes to how they work or deliver trusted data.

Bitmine Announces $200 Million Investment in MrBeast’s Beast Industries

According to PRNewswire, Bitmine has announced a $200 million investment in MrBeast’s Beast Industries, with the transaction expected to close around January 19.

Market Movements

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