PANews

整理 & 编译：深潮 TechFlow
Guests: Mike Ippolito, Co-founder of Blockworks, Host: David Hoffman, Bankless
Key Takeaways
David Hoffman and Mike Ippolito discuss why 2025, despite reaching new all-time highs, appears to be exceptionally challenging, and why this tension is crucial for 2026. They believe the crypto industry is entering a phase similar to "Internet in 2002" — a period of declining speculation, increasing focus on fundamentals, and accelerated industry consolidation. The conversation covers reasons why Ethereum might experience a revival, why Bitcoin sentiment could face difficulties, predictions for the market and perpetual contracts, and how builders and investors should adapt as the crypto industry shifts from hype to genuine value creation.

Author: Haseeb ＞|＜, Dragonfly Partner
Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow
LPs sometimes ask me who I consider the most outstanding venture capitalists in the crypto space.
I've thought about this a lot.
Since I started engaging in crypto venture investing, I've always aspired to be the best. I am passionate about competition, and investing is the purest form of competition. Only one person can win a deal, only one can pick the winner of this cycle.
But when you honestly examine and carefully calculate, you'll find that three people have already proven themselves as the "Greatest of All Time" (GOAT) in crypto VC.
This might sound a bit like bragging (it is), and it may not be very appealing to those who are not in crypto VC. But I am a crypto VC. This article is dedicated to those of us who have made this our lifelong career.

2026 will become the key year for large-scale institutional adoption of blockchain, with stablecoins being the most fundamental and largest-scale blockchain application. Trend Research believes that WLFI (World Liberty Financial) and its launched USD1 stablecoin will become one of the fastest-growing and most widely used blockchain projects. In the future era of on-chain finance, it will have comprehensive advantages such as compliance, branding, users, and liquidity, forming the infrastructure for a market worth hundreds of trillions of dollars in on-chain finance.
1. Stablecoin Explosion Is Ready to Burst
"Throughout the history of financial technology, almost never have we seen such a level of global project startup. The business model of stablecoins is fostering a new wave of founders, builders, and products. They are no longer limited by geopolitical barriers. From the very first moment of product launch, their goal is the global market."
1. Growth Trend of Stablecoins

Today's News Highlights:
Multiple regions warn about "taste test card" scams involving virtual currencies, using "free benefits" as a front to attract cyber fraud
Polymarket denies US military invasion of Venezuela, sparking strong user dissatisfaction
Morgan Stanley submits S-1 registration documents for Solana Trust and Bitcoin Trust to the US SEC
MSCI maintains digital asset companies in its index, will conduct broader reviews
Binance Wallet's exclusive TGE Phase 44 launches ZenChain (ZTC), subscription opens on January 7
Walmart launches Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services through its OnePay app
Analyst: Founder of SpiderPool may be one of the "1011 insider whale" agents; 886,000 ETH linked to the whale has recently been fully unstaked
Bitwise approved by the US SEC to list on NYSE

Li Feifei stated that artificial intelligence has achieved significant breakthroughs, and she is excited about future developments. A new wave of generative AI will enable machines to possess spatial intelligence closer to that of humans. She founded World Labs to promote the implementation of spatial intelligence and create value.

Author: Jae, PANews
At the start of 2026, Sui kicked off the year with a 30% surge in one week, marking a "green opening."
While most Layer 1 public chains are still competing over TPS and ecosystem numbers, Sui is waiting for its ticket to the Wall Street arena. Recently, the world's largest crypto asset management firms, Grayscale and Bitwise, submitted applications for Sui spot ETFs to the US SEC. This means that the SUI token will soon be evaluated alongside BTC and ETH in the institutional asset basket.
However, beneath the glamorous narrative of "Silicon Valley's darling" transforming into "Wall Street's new star," Sui is also undergoing a severe test: can it embrace traditional capital while becoming a trustworthy ecosystem foundation in the market?
Multiple data indices are growing exponentially, with a large influx of new users
Over the past two and a half years, the Sui ecosystem has shown exponential

Author: Zen, PANews
As funds shift from broad-based outreach to targeted harvesting, the market is entering a phase driven more by "quality" than "quantity." In this silent reshuffle of 2025, centralized finance (CeFi) has returned to the spotlight with massive funding rounds, the narrative of Web3 and AI integration is steadily advancing, infrastructure and DeFi remain the mainstays, while the once-glamorous Web3 gaming sector has faded into the background.
PANews has compiled 839 disclosed funding events in the blockchain sector in 2025. Following the flow of $23.7 billion in capital, it offers insights into investors' choices and tracks the rise of the next high-value territory.
Overall Market Review: Doubling of Funding Scale Coexists with Shrinking Transaction Volume
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, in 2025, the blockchain sector's primary market disclosed a total of 839 investment and financing events, with a total funding amount exceeding $23.7 billion. In terms of the number of financings,

The article discusses the relationship between investors' pursuit of excess returns (Alpha) and market performance (Beta), pointing out that although having Alpha can theoretically lead to better returns, in practice, market performance is often more critical. Historical data shows that market performance during different investment periods can significantly impact investment returns. Therefore, investors are advised to focus on controllable factors such as career development and personal health, rather than solely pursuing excess returns.

Interview: The Round Trip
Compiled & Edited by Yuliya, PANews
As the AI wave sweeps the globe at an unprecedented speed, a "arms race" centered around computing power has already begun. When Nvidia's market value surpasses one trillion, and giants like AWS and Google Cloud almost monopolize cloud computing power, a profound challenge faces all AI innovators: Will the high concentration of computing power stifle open innovation and lock the future of AI within the "walled gardens" of a few companies?
With a successful track record of selling a company for $60 million to Snapchat and founding Product Science, which provides AI code optimization services for top enterprises, Gonka AI's co-founders David and Daniel

In 2025, competition among consumer AI intensifies, with ChatGPT user stickiness exceeding 90%, leading the market. Competitors like Gemini are growing rapidly, while Anthropic focuses on technical users. The ultimate winner of AI assistants remains uncertain.

Author: Yuan Shan Insights
Data sources: Farside Investors, SoSoValue, Federal Reserve H.4.1 Report, CryptoQuant
On the first trading day of 2026, the BTC ETF saw a net inflow of $471 million in a single day.
What does this number mean?
In November and December, the total net outflow of spot BTC ETFs was approximately $4.57 billion; among them, December alone saw a net outflow of about $1.09 billion.
Many people are frantically cutting losses above 93K, while institutions bought back about one-tenth in just one day on January 2.
At the same time, the following events occurred:
- The Federal Reserve's balance sheet increased by approximately $59.4 billion week-over-week (WALCL: as of 12/31, it was $6.6406 trillion, an increase of about $59.4 billion since 12/24)
- A new giant whale's holdings surpassed 100,000 BTC ($12 billion)
- BTC from 8

Author: danny
Around the winter of 2020, the project's goal shifted from "creating value and serving users" to "appeasing exchanges and serving the studio well." The core driving force behind this phenomenon lies in the rigid demand for data from exchanges and the cold start dilemma faced by early-stage projects. Due to the lack of genuine initial users and data, but with exchanges requiring this data, project teams are forced to "collude" with studios and artificially inflate activity through volume manipulation to create a false sense of prosperity and meet market expectations.
This model leads projects to directly "start businesses facing exchanges" (To Exchange) and "start businesses targeting airdrop hunters" (To Airdrop Hunter). In this context, the industry has seen a phenomenon of "bad money driving out good," where false, arbitrage-driven interactions (bad money) crowd out network resources. By diluting rewards and increasing usage costs, this trend pushes out genuine users,

Arthur Hayes
Translated by: Yuliya, PANews
Imagine a video call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Venezuelan President Pepe Maduro, as Maduro was flying from Caracas to New York.
> Trump: "Pepe Maduro, you're a bad guy. The oil in your country is now mine. Long live America!"
>
> Pepe Maduro: "Trump, you crazy!"
>
>
Note: Arthur Hayes refers to the Venezuelan president as "Pepe Maduro" instead of his real name Nicolás Maduro. "Pepe" is a Spanish term

Virtuals Protocol aims to support builders by introducing three release mechanisms—Pegasus, Unicorn, and Titan—to meet the needs of teams at different stages. Pegasus focuses on distribution, Unicorn emphasizes belief and accountability, and Titan provides scalable support for mature teams. As the market evolves, Virtuals will continue to adapt, ensuring the right release mode is available at the right time.

Author | Momir @IOSG
The altcoin market has experienced its most difficult period this year. To understand why, we need to go back to decisions made a few years ago. The funding bubble of 2021-2022 fueled a wave of projects that raised large amounts of money. Now, these projects are issuing tokens, leading to a fundamental problem: a massive supply flooding the market, while demand remains scarce.
The issue is not just oversupply; even more concerning is that the mechanism causing this problem has remained largely unchanged to this day. Projects continue to issue tokens regardless of whether there is a market for their products, treating token issuance as an inevitable step rather than a strategic choice. As venture capital dries up and primary market investments shrink, many teams see token issuance as the only fundraising channel or a way to create exit opportunities for insiders.
This article will analyze the "Four Losses Dilemma" that is dismantling the altcoin market, examine why past repair mechanisms have failed, and propose possible pathways for rebalancing.
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