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Metaplanet (3350) announced full-year 2024 financial results and is now sitting on an unrealized gain of approximately $36 million (5.46 billion yen) on a total of 1,761 BTC, acquired for $137 million.

The bitcoin investor said it increased its shareholder base by 500% to 50,000 in 2024.

Metaplanet has several ways of increasing bitcoin holdings per share. The first is debt issuance, which is achieved through secured bonds, convertible bonds, and the use of bitcoin as collateral.

The second is equity issuance through private placement, preference shares, convertible bonds and warrants on top of cash flow from business operations, according to the presentation.

The firm plans to acquire 10,000 BTC by the end of 2025 and 21,000 BTC by 2026-end. This will be achieved by issuing 21 million shares in moving strike warrants.

Metaplanet shares were up 8% on Monday and up 64% year to date.

Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets are still recovering from last week’s bloodbath, but it appears that the memecoin fever is alive and well as three big tokens were issued over the weekend.

BNB Chain-based TST token, issued as a memecoin by the blockchain’s community following a tutorial video on how to issue tokens, zoomed to a $300 million market capitalization as Binance founder Changpeng Zhao referred to the token in several X posts — with it even gaining a coveted Binance listing on Sunday.

Zhao, who stepped from a formal role at the company last year, said Sunday that he wasn’t for or against memecoins, and the category’s “fun” element makes it appealing for short-term traders.

“Things with clear tangible value are harder to speculate on. They stay around the clear value,” Zhao said. “This is indeed a challenge for RWA. Memes are fun, etc. It’s a cultural thing. I am not an expert in this area. There are plenty of die-hard defenders of memes. Don’t go against the community.”

Barstool’s Portnoy Buys “JAILSTOOL”

David Portnoy, the influential founder of Barstool Sports, jumped into the memecoin fray on Friday with a coin called “Montoya por favor,” inspired by a contestant from the Spanish reality show La Isla De Las Tentaciones.

Portnoy told his 3.5 million X followers that he was “up a billion percent” on his first foray into the meme tokens, helping the coins surge to a market capitalization of $14 million at its peak before plummeting down to a $1 million cap within a few hours.

He has now set his sights on a Josh Allen MVP coin with a playful warning, “Buy at your own risk. I just bought it. I’m gonna sell it. Don’t buy what ya can’t lose.” That coin also shot up, hitting a market cap of over $12 million, before nosediving to a capitalization under $100,000.

Market watchers on X accused him of leading his massive following into a pump-and-dump scheme. But Portnoy defended his trading spree, claiming transparency and even humorously questioning if his actions could land him in jail.

Someone then issued the JAILSTOOL token, a nod to Portnoy’s tweet…which Portnoy then purchased and promoted to his followers.

“I may dump it eventually but I’ll let all you righteous losers dump on each other first. So don’t put in more than you can lose,” he quipped.

JAILSTOOL surged from $1.2 million to over $200 million at peak, even gaining a spot listing on U.S.-based Kraken on Sunday. It trades at 8 cents in Asian afternoon hours on Monday at a $78 million market capitalization.

Suspicions Rise as Central African Republic’s President Issues a Token

Here’s where the meme frenzy gets wild — an entire African country has decided to get in on the fun as the Central African Republic apparently issued its CAR memecoin over the weekend.

CAR launched with a promise to aid in national development and to put one of the poorest countries “on the world stage,” its president said on X. The token’s market cap soared to around $527 million shortly after issuance, nearly a fourth of the country’s GDP of $2.6 billion.

“As the second president in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, I have always recognized the potential of crypto and its benefits on a global scale,” Faustin-Archange Touadéra said, linking to CAR’s website.

But suspicions abound around CAR’s issuance, with the site’s domain provider taking it down late Sunday and some X users allegeding Touadéra’s video to be a deepfake.

Solana decentralized exchange Jupiter said early Monday it had reached out to CAR representations for further validity of the token and its official connection to the country.

Jupiter said it was able to verify the token’s deployers using an onchain transaction, but further confirmation and exact relation to the president’s office remain pending as of Asian afternoon hours.

A momentum indicator that presaged bitcoin’s (BTC) post-election price surge has now turned negative, coinciding with President Donald Trump’s tariff rhetoric, which threatens to destabilize markets. Still, there’s no need to panic just yet.

That indicator is the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) histogram, which is used to gauge trend strength and changes. It’s calculated by subtracting bitcoin’s average price level during the past 26 periods (weeks in this case) from the average over the past 12 weeks.

The signal line is then calculated as a nine-week average of the MACD and the difference between the MACD and signal lines is plotted as a histogram.

The MACD on bitcoin’s weekly chart has crossed below zero, which is said to represent a bearish shift in momentum. Meanwhile, crossovers above zero indicate a bullish trend. The indicator turned positive in mid-October, strengthening the case for a rally to $100,000, as CoinDesk reported back then.

So, while the latest bearish MACD signal might alarm bulls, especially retail buyers who rely on technical analysis tools, BTC’s current price action doesn’t validate the negative reading on the indicator.

Currently, BTC remains confined within the broader range of $90K to $100K, with recent movements tightening to a range between $95K and $100K. The directionless trading diminishes the significance of the MACD’s bearish crossover.

It’s essential to remember that indicators are derived from price action, not the other way around. MACD signals need to be confirmed by price action. The indicator’s bullish signal in mid-October was backed by prices breaking out of a multi-month trading range.

Tariff threat and surging inflation expectations

While the MACD isn’t a cause for concern yet, several macro factors warrant attention as potential sources of downside volatility that could see the cryptocurrency test the long-held support near $90,000. A break below that would validate the fresh negative reading on the MACD, confirming a bearish shift in momentum.

At the top of the list is Trump’s tariff rhetoric, which, if it translates into action, could lead to higher bond yields and lower risk assets.

Trump said that on Monday, he would announce 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, which would come on top of additional metal duties, to be disclosed later this week. Trump has hinted at plans to apply higher tariffs on a wide range of goods imported from the European Union later this month, according to UBS.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey released Friday showed that the tariff threat is already adversely impacting consumer expectations about price pressures in the economy. Inflation expectations for the year ahead increased to 4.3% in February from 3.3% in January, the highest reading since November 2023.

That could keep the Fed from cutting rates rapidly. “2-year inflation swaps have started to price some risk premium around tariffs. At 2.72%, they have reached new highs. The market is interpreting the Fed to be pretty much on a long pause: growth is holding up okay, and the idea is that even if inflation drops to 2% the Fed doesn’t need to be in a hurry to cut,” Alfonso Peccatiello, the author of Macro Compass, said on X.

The U.S. CPI data, or the consumer price index report for January, is scheduled to be released on Feb. 12.

Polymarket bettors have put $1.1 billion in volume on the outcome of the Superbowl, which saw the Philadelphia Eagles beat out the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22, as the betting platform continues to gain steam, despite regulatory hurdles.

Polymarket has become the go to avenue for placing on-chain bets, which has brought in scrutiny from regulators. Some countries have outright banned Polymarket, while the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) wants to gain access to the platform‘s customer data.

According to crypto attorney Aaron Brogan, the argument that prediction markets, like Polymarket, are simply a Web3 version of gambling is an inaccurate characterization.

Brogan, said that unlike traditional betting platform, prediction markets make money on the transactions fees rather that the users.

Regardless of the challenges, Polymarket is thriving and bettors are gaining or losing big sums of money.

Traders go hard on sports bets

On-chain from Polymarket Analytics shows that one trader going by the handle ‘abeautifulmind’ took home a profit of over $550,000 from their bets on the Eagles. Data shows that this user has an overall profit of just over $1 million, mostly from bets on sports.

On the other side of the trade was a bettor by the name of hubertdakid, who lost $718,633 by betting against the Eagles. This trader seems to be down on their luck on Polymarket, with an overall loss of $638,177.

Other Superbowl related contracts on Polymarket included one about how many times Taylor Swift would be shown on the broadcast and another about how long the national anthem performance would be.

Overall, lifetime volume from sports related contracts on Polymarket has passed $6 billion. This is more than the volume on U.S. election markets, which came in at $5.2 billion according to Polymarket Analytics.

Major financial institutions have been raising their gold price forecasts as the precious metal’s price benefits from growing trade war fears and central banks’ accumulations.

This week, strategists at both Citi and UBS issued increased gold price forecasts, anticipating the precious metal’s bull run will continue as markets are pressured by geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties.

Gold-backed cryptocurrencies have been benefiting from this trend, with tokens like PAXG and XAUT seeing performance in line with that of the precious metal. These tokens, backed by physical gold stored in vaults, have been outperforming the wider cryptocurrency market amid the uncertainty.

Citi has adjusted its short-term gold price target to $3,000 per ounce and increased its average forecast for the year to $2,900, up from $2,800, Investing.com reports. Behind its hike were not only the factors cited above but also global growth concerns expected to drive demand for the precious metal.

Meanwhile, UBS hiked its 12-month gold price target to $3,000 per ounce, up from $2,850. The precious metal has already breached the latter, currently trading at $2,860 after rising about 9% year-to-date.

UBS strategists led by Mark Haefele said in a note that gold’s “enduring appeal as a store of value and hedge against uncertainty has again proven itself.” Meanwhile, Citi’s note points to “trade wars and geopolitical tensions reinforcing the reserve diversification/de-dollarization trend and supporting emerging market (EM) official sector gold demand.”
Read more: Gold-Backed Cryptocurrencies Surge as Precious Metal Hits Record Amid Trade War Worry

The perceived odds of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, launching a token have plummeted after he posted on social media that he is “not doing a coin” in a post where he added that “coins prey on the fans with hype.”

That post saw the perceived odds of Kanye launching a token this month, which at one point reached 40% on the popular prediction market Polymarket, plunge to around 10% as traders reacted to it.

Various memecoins, called “Ye,” have popped up since the rapper started the conversation about crypto on social media, in anticipation that the rapper is going to launch a token. However, after the denial, these have seen their value plunge. One of the tokens has lost more than 65% of its value since the rapper’s post, while a second one is down 89%, according to Dexscreener data.

Ye’s post, in which he said he only does things he is “passionate and knowledgeable about” while being “too rich to do anything else,” came after a previous one in which the rapper said he turned down a $2 million offer to launch his own token. After his posts, the rapper appeared to want to get in touch with Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, in a cryptic post.
Read more: JPMorgan Closed Kanye’s Account. Yes, There’s a Crypto Angle

Brazilian stock exchange B3 is set to expand its cryptocurrency offerings with the introduction of bitcoin (BTC) options and futures contracts for ether (ETH) and solana (SOL).

The expanded offerings are set to come sometime this year, the exchange’s CEO Gilson Finkelsztain told local media. Bitcoin futures contracts were added to the exchange in April of last year and have been seeing R$5 billion (around $860 million) in trading volume per month, according to local news outlet Valor Investe.

In comparison, according to Brazilian cryptocurrency market monitor Biscoint, traditional cryptocurrency exchanges saw a total trading volume of R$6.66 billion (roughly $1.13 billion) in the first month of the year.

B3 is Brazil’s main stock exchange where dozens of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products are listed along with equities, bonds, and other financial products.

Ether (ETH) has fallen more than 5.1% over the past 24-hour period to below $2,600, while bitcoin (BTC) is down around 2.9% over the same period to $95,700.

The largest altcoin’s price performance has pushed down the CoinDesk 20 Index by nearly 4% over the period amid a market downturn that also affected equities markets over U.S. President Donald Trump announcing plans to unveil reciprocal tariffs next week, escalating fears of a trade war with the country’s major trading partners.

Yet ether’s underperformance comes amid other factors influencing the cryptocurrency specifically, including its circulating supply having recently risen past pre-Merge levels. The Ethereum Merge—the network’s merge with the Beacon Chain that moved it to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism—was widely expected to help its supply drop, and it did so for months.

The trend, however, reversed in April, weeks after the activation of the highly anticipated “Dencun” upgrade. This upgrade suppressed the growth of layer-2 networks by reducing their data fees and introduced transaction “blobs,” which helped reduce transaction fees.

Reducing transaction fees on Ethereum has meant that less ether is burned, which in turn reversed the cryptocurrency’s supply trend. Since the introduction of EIP-1559 in 2021, every ether transaction has a base fee that gets burned, helping reduce the supply of ETH.

The reduction in burned ether has seen ETH’s supply grow over the last few months to the point its circulating supply has grown by 8,242 ETH since the Merge, data from Ultrasound.money shows.

Ether also saw the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently delay its decision on listing options contracts for BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), which could also be weighing on the cryptocurrency’s performance.

Other factors, including a restriction of the Ethereum Foundation and heightened competition from other networks, including Solana, have also been affecting ether, whose value relative to BTC recently dropped to 2021 lows. In a research report, JPMorgan has said ETH lacks a compelling narrative like that of BTC

Despite the bearish performance, analysts have pointed out ether’s price is mirroring a pattern it saw before that was followed by renewed bullish momentum. On Friday, Jake Ostrovskis, an OTC trader at crypto market maker Wintermute, told CoinDesk he was seeing “strong over-the-counter demand for ETH.”

Analysts at Santiment pointed out on social media there has been a drop in the amount of ETH tokens at a profit since they were first mined as bearish sentiment affects the cryptocurrency, which could be a potential setup for a surprise bounce “once crypto markets are able to stabilize.”

As Utah became the first state to get a bill through a legislative chamber that would allow the investment of public money into crypto assets, lawmakers in two other states joined the hunt this week: Kentucky and Maryland.

Though broadly identified with the Republican-led charge toward a so-called “bitcoin strategic reserve” at the federal level, the states have moved their own measures, widely varied as to how each might invest state money into digital assets.

Utah’s bill to allow the state treasurer to put money into digital assets survived a tight vote in the Utah House of Representatives — advancing with just a three-vote margin — to head on Friday to the state senate. If it clears both chambers and is signed into law by the governor, the legislation would permit investing public money into stablecoins or cryptocurrency with a market cap of more than $500 billion, which is currently a single-name list: bitcoin.

The new bill in Maryland this week, introduced by Democrat Delegate Caylin Young, pushes for a bitcoin (BTC) strategic reserve, much like the one contemplated by U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis. In Maryland, the reserve would be funded through revenue from the enforcement of gambling violations.

The legislation in Kentucky also landed this week, with two bills — so far — that would open state retirement funds for investment in digital assets exchange-traded funds. The bills would also throw up roadblocks for the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Most of the state bills have steered clear of calling for new taxpayer money to be channeled into crypto.

Read More: U.S. Bitcoin Reserve May Be Coming, But States Are Winning the Race

Fifteen other states are weighing legislation in their current sessions, with others expected to follow, and another two states — Michigan and Wisconsin — already have portions of their retirement funds in crypto ETFs. The surge in state interest mostly developed after the election of President Donald Trump and his stated interest in a strategic stockpile of digital assets.

Trump issued an executive order calling for his administration’s crypto working group to examine the possibilities of a crypto stockpile for the U.S., though he’s stopped short of calling for a strategic bitcoin reserve.

Crypto investment magnate Barry Silbert is betting big on decentralized AI, calling it “the next big era of crypto” that could be bigger than even bitcoin.

In a letter to shareholders of his crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group, Silbert went long on deAI: the crypto industry’s effort to fuse AI innovations with blockchain tech. He believes the tech mashup may pay better dividends for humanity than the closed-off systems being developed by OpenAI and other giants.

“We’re moving from the digital ownership of assets to the decentralized ownership of intelligence and the availability of vast decentralized compute resources,” Siblert wrote in the Q4 letter reviewed by CoinDesk.

The setup reminded Silbert of bitcoin, the best-known and by far biggest cryptocurrency, and the one where he first made his crypto fortune. But instead of a money revolution, deAI could herald a power revolution with crypto as the mechanism to distribute ownership of and governance over powerful AI models.

DCG certainly thinks so. The company has already invested $105 million into over a dozen deAI projects, “and we’re excited to ramp this up in 2025,” Silbert wrote.

He highlighted DCG’s investment in Bittensor – a crypto network that specializes in machine learning and AI applications – as the portfolio company closest to “escape velocity.” Bittensor’s TAO token has many similarities to bitcoin, he wrote.

Notably, TAO’s market cap is $2.7 billion, a rounding error against bitcoin’s nearly $2 trillion valuation.

DCG plans to invest mightily in supporting the Bittensor ecosystem. Silbert pointed out that in November, it spun up a company called Yuma that incubates Bittensor infrastructure projects. And Grayscale, another DCG company, now offers investment products that give exposure to TAO.

Silbert’s Q4 letter capped a year of “rebuilding” at DCG after a long period of tumult spawned by the FTX implosion, which felled its lending business, Genesis. DCG is also a former owner of CoinDesk, having sold to Bullish in late 2023. All five of DCG’s wings had a “successful 2024,” he said.

“The discipline required over the last couple of years has resulted in enhanced infrastructure and more mature processes, improved governance, and a stronger organization focused on executing on our growth initiatives,” Silbert wrote.