Lloyds Bank Completes UK's First Tokenized Deposit to Purchase Government Bonds Trade

On January 8, CZ (Changpeng Zhao) posted: “I’ll fully disclose this upfront to avoid any ‘leaks’ or overinterpretation. I haven’t told anyone yet, though some people have been guessing.” He noted he may name the Chinese edition of his memoir/book *The Binance Story*. This has nothing to do with any meme token or listing—but he accepts and enjoys meme culture, finding the term “sticky” (easy to remember). **Disclaimer**: He does not hold any meme coin named *The Binance Story* and has no intention to. He also reserves the right to ultimately skip this title, or change his mind last minute. The English edition’s title will likely be entirely different and is not finalized yet. **Expected publication**: 4–6 weeks from now. Both Chinese and English editions will release simultaneously via self-publishing. Traditional publishing is too slow, though it may offer significant distribution help. **Final note**: All personal income from the book will be donated to charities. He’s n

Jan 8 — Binance released its *2025 Blockchain Industry Annual Review Report*, noting that in 2025, the exchange became the first global platform to secure full authorization under the internationally recognized ADGM regulatory framework, with its global registered user base topping 300 million. This marks a new phase for the industry: platform scale expansion continuing hand in hand with enhanced regulatory compliance. In 2025, Binance’s total annual trading volume hit $34 trillion, with spot trading volume exceeding $7.1 trillion and year-over-year growth in average daily trading volume across all products reaching 18%. The crypto industry’s focus has shifted beyond traditional trading—Binance Alpha 2.0’s trading volume surpassed $1 trillion in 2025, drawing 17 million users. Meanwhile, ongoing investments in security, compliance, risk management, and governance delivered quantifiable, scalable user protection results, successfully blocking potential fraud losses of $6.69 billion.

On January 8th, trader Eugene Ng Ah Sio posted to his personal channel: “I’m rebuilding my SOL position. Amid this rebound, I’ve been hunting for an asset to focus on—and so far, SOL has the strongest relative strength among the top three mainstream coins. Technically, SOL also has one of the cleanest trading setups, with room for a swing up to $160 or even $200. This hinges on the trend holding, plus Bitcoin’s potential to push toward $100k down the line. My take? Price usually leads—logic and narratives follow later. Right now, SOL feels counter-consensus: market participants can’t find solid reasons to go long, which is typically the best entry point. By the time all the reasons are laid out, the market’s often already moved 50%. Right now I’m just hoping Bitcoin holds $90k—this pullback is just the first shakeout before the rally, followed by a fresh uptrend.”

On January 8, Bank of America upgraded Coinbase’s rating to "Buy," citing accelerated product expansion, strategic realignment, and a more compelling current valuation as key catalysts. While Coinbase’s stock has pulled back ~40% from its July peak, the firm’s product momentum has improved in the second half of the year, per BofA. The bank highlighted Coinbase’s accelerated push into stocks, ETFs, and prediction markets; its Layer 2 network Base is viewed as a critical infrastructure-level growth engine. Additionally, Coinbase Tokenize is expected to act as a major driver for Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization. With its P/E ratio down ~40% from mid-2024 levels, BofA reaffirmed its $340 price target for Coinbase—implying ~38% upside—and noted the exchange is positioned to retain long-term industry leadership through 2026.

On Jan. 8, U.S. weekly initial jobless claims totaled 208,000 for the week ended Jan. 3—below the 210,000 consensus estimate. The prior week’s reading was revised up to 200,000 from 199,000. Per CME FedWatch data, following today’s claims release, the probability of a 25-basis-point Fed rate cut in January stands at 11.6%, while odds of holding rates steady are 88.4%.

January 8: U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending January 3 came in at 208,000, vs. expectations of 210,000. The prior week’s figure was revised up from 199,000 to 200,000. (FXStreet)