Circle minted 250 million USDC on the Solana network 6 hours ago

January 18th — According to Bloomberg, Senate Democrats are set to introduce legislation aimed at blocking former President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs on European nations that oppose the U.S. annexation of Greenland. Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the proposed tariff move, arguing it would harm the U.S. economy and strain relationships with key allies. Earlier today, Trump posted on Truth Social with the following tariff announcements: - Effective February 1st, a 10% tariff will be levied on all goods exported to the U.S. from Denmark (which oversees Greenland), Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland, citing the Greenland issue. - The tariff rate will rise to 25% on June 1st. - Tariffs will remain in place until an agreement is reached on the “complete purchase of Greenland.”

**Jan 18th Flash Update** PolyMarket trader beachboy4 has notched a 40-game winning streak in sports predictions, raking in **$5.6 million total (including unrealized gains)** over the past 24 hours. His recent big wins include: - **Premier League (Jan 17): Tottenham vs West Ham** Wagered $3.32M on West Ham victory → $3.48M profit. - **Premier League (Jan 17): Sunderland vs Crystal Palace** Staked $1.29M on Sunderland win → $1.86M profit. - **FA Cup (Jan 14): Chelsea vs Arsenal** Bet $1.08M on Arsenal victory → $1M profit. *Note: All figures reflect settled profits from successful wagers.*

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po published a blog post on January 18 titled *Seizing Development Opportunities in a Complex International Environment*. In the post, he highlighted: - Gold’s role as a central bank reserve, investment product, and risk-hedging tool has grown more prominent. - Gold prices have risen by over 60% cumulatively in 2025, marking their largest increase since 1979. - Global gold demand by value jumped 44% year-over-year to $146 billion in the third quarter of last year. - Hong Kong’s gold spot trading market has become far more active: average daily trading volume on the Hong Kong Gold Exchange (HKGE) more than doubled year-over-year to HK$2.9 billion as of November last year. - Hong Kong is advancing a gold central clearing system—critical financial infrastructure—to boost the reliability, efficiency, and liquidity of local gold trading and physical delivery, while cutting transaction costs. The goal is to launch a pilot this year, wit

On January 18, Hyperliquid launched the AXS/USDC perpetual futures contract, offering up to 5x leverage.

On January 18, blockchain analytics platform LookOnChain noted that the Tron network has minted an additional 22.7 billion USDT over the past year, bringing its total USDT supply to 82.4 billion. Meanwhile, the number of USDT holders on Tron has increased by 11 million in the same timeframe, with the current total topping 70.6 million.

January 18th — Per on-chain analyst Specter, linked addresses tied to Cambodia-based money transfer firm Huione have been continuously moving tokens over the past 15 hours. To date, they’ve deposited a total of 1,017 ETH and 212 BNB into Tornado Cash, with the combined value totaling approximately $5.19 million. Most tokens in the associated wallets have been emptied.