Suspected Sonic Labs-Related Address Transfers 11.78 Million S Tokens to Binance, Valued at Approximately $5.55 Million

On January 16, HTX market data shows the "X Revokes InfoFi App API Access" news sparked sharp declines in two crypto tokens: - COOKIE fell over 14% in 24 hours, last trading at $0.0383. - KAITO dropped more than 15% in the same period, currently priced at $0.567. Earlier reports confirmed X revoked API access for the "InfoFi" app to curb platform spam. Cookie DAO stated: "After coordinating with the X team on their API and usage policies, we’ve decided to immediately shut down Snaps and all ongoing activities. We’re in active discussions with X to explore reviving Snaps in a new format." Kaito noted plans to gradually phase out YAPS and incentive leaderboards, while launching Kaito Studio.

Jan. 16 (BeInCrypto) — Polygon has conducted a large-scale internal layoff, with multiple sources familiar with the matter reporting roughly 30% of its staff were cut this week. This isn’t the blockchain firm’s first major workforce reduction: It laid off nearly 20% of its employees back in 2024. The timing of the layoffs aligns with Polygon’s recent restructuring announcement. Earlier this month, Polygon Labs said it’s reorganizing its team around a new “payment-first” strategy — a notable shift from its prior focus on scaling and DeFi narratives. The transformation follows Polygon’s spree of over $250 million in acquisitions, including Coinme (a U.S.-compliant fiat onramp for crypto) and Sequence (a wallet and cross-chain payment infrastructure provider).

Jan. 16 (CoinDesk) — BitMine Chairman Tom Lee told shareholders at a Thursday meeting that the world’s largest Ethereum treasury firm expects its $13 billion Ethereum holdings to generate more than $400 million in annual pre-tax revenue, with the bulk coming from staking those assets. Lee noted BitMine likely saved roughly $400 million on its Ethereum purchases over the past few months. Even with those savings, however, the firm’s holdings acquired since last July are still sitting on an unrealized loss of about $2.3 billion. In a Thursday-morning disclosure, BitMine revealed it had invested $200 million in Beast Industries, the company owned by viral YouTuber MrBeast. Lee called the move “clearly a wise choice” and predicted it will easily deliver a 10x return—a “quantum leap” in gains. Additionally, Lee said BitMine plans to launch a mobile app (details are limited for now) and will make a significant investment in the tokenization space.

Jan. 16 — Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong met with Capitol Hill lawmakers this week to protect the company’s ability to keep offering rewards to users holding stablecoins on its platform, per Bloomberg. Armstrong noted banking lobbies are pushing for legislation to cap stablecoin rewards, warning such limits would undercut the crypto industry’s ability to compete with banks for customer funds. He argued Americans deserve the right to earn higher yields on their money, while banks fear they’d be forced to raise deposit rates to match. Previously, Armstrong pushed back against a draft digital asset market structure bill slated for Senate committee review — leading committee chair Tim Scott to delay action on the measure. The initial compromise draft banned deposit yield payments but permitted other transaction-related rewards. However, senators are set to vote on an amendment that would fully ban stablecoin rewards, with the outcome still up in the air.

On January 16, Michael Saylor posted: "Digital credit is the refinement of digital capital—stripping away risk, curbing volatility, compressing maturity, facilitating currency conversion, and unlocking yield."

Onchain Lens monitoring data shows that as of January 16, BlackRock has withdrawn 6,647 BTC (valued at approximately $6.3809 billion) and 4,179 ETH (valued at ~$13.76 million) from Coinbase over the past 8 hours. Over the past two days, the asset manager has withdrawn a total of 9,346 BTC (valued at roughly $9.0023 billion) from the exchange.