Point of View: Chinese Victims of the Qian Zhimin Case Hope for a Soaring BTC Price to Receive a "Satisfactory" High Compensation, which is Not Realistic

On January 25, Token Terminal released data showing stablecoin issuers generated roughly $5 billion in revenue in 2025 by deploying stablecoins on the Ethereum blockchain. Stablecoin supply on Ethereum rose by around $50 billion throughout 2025, topping $180 billion by the fourth quarter (Q4). Issuers’ revenue also climbed, hitting roughly $1.4 billion in Q4 alone. A portion of that revenue comes from returns on the reserve assets backing stablecoin supplies. Ethereum remains the primary issuance platform for most major stablecoin issuers.

**January 25th Update** Per Coinglass data, Coinbase’s Bitcoin Premium Index has stayed in negative territory for 10 straight days, with the discount widening to -0.1573%. Over the past 30 days, the index has been negative for 28 total days. **BlockBeats Note** The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index tracks the gap between Bitcoin’s price on Coinbase (a leading U.S. crypto exchange) and the global market average. It’s a key gauge for monitoring U.S. market capital flows, institutional investment interest, and shifts in investor sentiment. - **Positive Premium**: Coinbase price > global average → Signals strong U.S. buying pressure, active entry of institutional/compliant capital, ample USD liquidity, and broadly optimistic sentiment. - **Negative Premium**: Coinbase price < global average → Reflects elevated U.S. selling pressure, reduced investor risk appetite, increased market risk aversion, or capital outflows.

Jan. 25: Per OnchainLens monitoring, a wallet linked to the Pendle team has deposited 1.8 million PENDLE (valued at $3.61 million) into Bybit, following a 3+ year hold. The wallet received the tokens from Pendle’s vesting wallet.

**Bitfinex Report: Ethereum Hits All-Time High Daily Transaction Volume Amid Low Gas Fees** Per Bitfinex’s latest January 25 report, Ethereum’s daily transaction volume topped 2.88 million last Friday—marking an all-time high. Notably, this milestone came amid unusually low average gas fees. Ethereum’s network performance this cycle differs from prior periods: increased usage, lower average gas fees, and sustained growth in staking participation. The network’s long-term technical roadmap—especially its focus on Layer 2 scaling—is starting to pay off. Ethereum is evolving beyond a mere transaction execution layer to a neutral settlement and coordination layer, with most execution activity shifting to Layer 2 networks. This shift signals a key transition: Ethereum is moving from a single network constrained by on-chain execution to a modular system of specialized layers. Ethereum staking has also hit a new record: over 36 million ETH (nearly 30% of its circulating supply) is

On January 25, a16z Crypto published a lengthy article titled *What to Do When Prediction Markets Fail*. It noted the biggest challenge in prediction markets isn’t pricing future outcomes—but verifying what actually happened. A key bottleneck to scaling these markets is “how contracts settle.” Earlier this year, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was detained by U.S. forces. Meanwhile, Polymarket denied Venezuela had been invaded, ruling the “U.S. invasion of Venezuela” market “false”—sparking widespread controversy. Polymarket later clarified: “The market referenced U.S. military action aimed at establishing control; Maduro’s detention and evacuation do not qualify as an invasion.” a16z Crypto criticized the prediction market’s tricky dilemma: contract execution should follow either official information (Maduro’s “win” in the scenario) or consensus from credible reports (the opposition’s “win”). In this political episode, Polymarket’s dispute resolution mechanism acted a

On January 25th, Life Candlestick Project founder 0xSakura (@0xsakura666) revealed key updates for the project: - The "Life Candlestick" v1.25 app, Metaphysical Agent chat feature, and Merit System are set to launch imminently. - Whitelist token burn mechanisms will be optimized. - Donations will now only accept whitelist tokens (BNB support is being phased out). - Tokens not donated before delisting will be retained, with only **Life Candlestick**, **Life Candlestick Fund**, and **Merit** remaining as eligible whitelist tokens. - Merit points earned via token donations will work for all future Life Candlestick functions/activities; donated tokens will be 100% burned. - The previously announced buyback has been completed, and future buyback ratios will be adjusted to: 50% Life Candlestick, 34% Life Candlestick Fund, 16% Merit. Per GMGN data (link: https://gmgn.ai/bsc/token/i_m4TE56o8_0x1a1e69f1e6182e2f8b9e8987e83c016ac9444444), the "Life Candlestick" token’s market cap b