TRUMP memecoin riches have spurred billions of dollars for the newly sworn-in U.S. President Donald Trump, an amount he termed as “peanuts” compared to corporate bigwigs in his first address of the token since launch.

“I don’t know much about it other than when I launched it. I heard it was successful,” Trump said in a press conference on Tuesday when asked by a reporter. “Where is it today? Several billion?

“That’s peanuts for these guys,” he added, referring to the networth of other businessmen in the room that included SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Oracle’s Larry Ellison.

Token prices zoomed 25% in the past 24 hours, beating gains in bitcoin (BTC) and other majors, to reverse losses from earlier in the week. It sits at an $8 billion market capitalization as of Wednesday morning, up nearly 900% since going live.

Trump also unveiled a $500 billion joint venture termed Stargate at the event, which aims to build data centers in Texas and would invest in AI infrastructure.

Meanwhile, some see TRUMP as a bet on the Republican’s popularity and policies in his term, with ripple effects on how it may shape up Web3 and memecoin markets.

“Longer term, TRUMP coin could act as a barometer for public sentiment towards Trump’s presidency,” Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands told CoinDesk in a message. “Culture memes and tokens are essentially a highly variable public polymarket of culture and zeitgeist, and we’ve seen this play out accordingly.”

“(However) If the initiative is perceived as a cash grab without further engagement, we may well see a crypto chill for meme tokens, potentially draining attention and liquidity out of the meme space. How the TRUMP token is handled is likely to have a ripple effect on trust and reputation for the entire crypto and Web3 industry,” Siu added.

Shares of Canadian crypto provider Neptune surged 40% after it secured a $20 million credit facility from Sygnum Bank to buy Bitcoin.

Neptune Digital Assets Corp., a public Canadian infrastructure provider, saw its shares climb 40% on over-the-counter markets after locking in a $20 million credit line from Sygnum Bank, the Swiss digital asset-focused lender.

The loan, backed by Neptune’s Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, will help it expand its Bitcoin stash as well as buy other crypto-related assets, and fund strategic investments, the firm said in a Jan. 21 press release.

“The loan is structured to give us ample flexibility while maintaining Swiss banking protections over the Bitcoin collateral. At this pivotal stage in our development, the US$20 million positions us to expand our digital asset portfolio, pursue strategic investments, and strengthen our balance sheet — without diluting shareholders through equity issuance.”

Cale Moodie, Neptune’s CEO

Sygnum Bank also pears confident in Neptune’s plans, with head of credit Benedikt Koedel sharing his excitement to support the firm “as they expand their digital asset portfolio.” The market responded fast, with Neptune’s shares surging over 40% on OTCMarkets to a record high of $1.15. The firm also trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker NDA.

The move followed a wave of activity from other public companies rushing to buy Bitcoin under the first pro-crypto administration in the White House. For example, Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited, a publicly listed reinsurance and tokenized asset firm, announced on Jan. 21 that it added Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) to its treasury reserves as a store of value.

[PRESS RELEASE – Hanoi, Vietnam, January 22nd, 2025]

The mini-app will add new utility for User-Owned NFL Rivals Player Digital Assets on the Mythos Chain , proving the interoperability between two different player experiences across two different platforms

Football Rivals will Onboard Millions of Users to Mythos via Koni Stack’s Telegram Mini App-as-a-Service

Koni Stack, the platform that accelerates next-generation Web3 decentralized applications (dApps), today announced the launch of Football Rivals, a new toss-up mini-app. The Telegram app, built using Koni Stack’s mini app SDK, launched today on Telegram.

As a player experience built to be interoperable with and provide added utility for user-owned NFL Rivals player digital assets, which are also used in connection with the hugely popular game from Mythical Games’ title with over six million active players, the Football Rivals mini-app will enable users to utilize such player assets to combine engaging stats-based gameplay with the power of Web3. Players will use digital assets to compete in weekly challenges, with top performers earning MYTH rewards on the Mythos Chain. The app, launched today, is available worldwide to millions of users, making it one of the most accessible and user-friendly blockchain gaming experiences to date!

By tapping into the global Telegram user base, Football Rivals is poised to introduce millions of new players to the Mythos and Polkadot ecosystems. This collaboration between Koni Stack, Mythos, and Polkadot creates an entirely new use case for the blockchain ecosystem, offering a seamless experience for players to now use their owned digital assets across a new experience and platform, proving the interoperability of digital assets and collectibles.

Koni Stack, developed by the team behind SubWallet – the leading wallet in the Polkadot ecosystem – is designed to simplify the onboarding process for users into Web3 via a developer-friendly SDK. With a focus on user-friendly interfaces, SubWallet first revolutionized access to Polkadot with its easy-to-use wallet. Now, through its Telegram mini app-as-a-service, Koni Stack is helping developers create seamless mini apps with low code thus enabling Telegram’s billions of users to seamlessly interact with dApps and blockchain-based experiences.

“We’re thrilled to enable millions of players to utilize their digital assets and collectibles to bring a new experience, Football Rivals, to millions of users on Telegram, leveraging Koni Stack’s mini app SDK,” said Hieu Dao, CEO of SubWallet and Koni Stack, “This effort not only demonstrates the scalability of Mythos and Polkadot but also opens up a new avenue for further application of blockchain technology, creating more fun, accessible ways for players to engage with Polkadot.”

“We’re excited to see Koni Stack release Football Rivals on Telegram,” said John Linden, CEO of Mythical Games. “By using the Mythos Chain’s robust ecosystem and Koni Stack’s mini-app SDK, this mini-app shows the power of web3 and the ability for one group to build extended value for players through interoperability. The fact that Koni was able to build a new player experience*,* enabling interoperability and allowing players to use the NFL Rivals digital assets they earned and purchased in connection with another application, is what web3 is all about, and Football Rivals makes this a reality!”

As Football Rivals takes off, it is expected to drive significant on-chain activity on the Mythos chain, onboarding millions of users to decentralized platforms. The apps integration with Telegram, combined with Polkadot’s scalability and interoperability, will be a powerful tool for introducing the next generation of users to blockchain technology.

For more information about Football Rivals, users can visit t.me/footballrivalsgame.

About Koni Stack

Koni Stack is an all-in-one platform that accelerates the development and deployment of next-gen Web3 dApps. It enables developers to build intent-based dApps for the masses with zero fragmentation, using two key modules: dApp-as-a-service and mini app-as-a-service. The dApp-as-a-service module allows for seamless, unified dApps that can access users and liquidity across multiple networks with one-time deployment, while the mini app-as-a-service module lets you quickly create and deploy Telegram mini apps by simply plugging in ready-to-use modules.

About Mythical Games

Acknowledged by Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2021 and recently Forbes’ Best Startup Employers (2024), Mythical Games is a next-generation game company creating world-class games and empowering players to take ownership of their in-game assets through the use of blockchain technology. The team has helped develop major franchises, including Call of Duty, Call of Duty Mobile, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Magic: The Gathering, EA Madden, Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery, Marvel Strike Force, Modern Warfare 3, and Skylanders. Mythical’s current games Blankos Block Party and NFL Rivals are already played by millions of consumers worldwide and create a new economy for players allowing them to engage in a new way with games but also directly trade and transact safely with other players worldwide.

The Mythical Marketplace, the first in-game blockchain Marketplace on iOS and Android, provides gamers with ownership and control over the purchase and sale of digital assets, while the Mythical Platform protects gamers that may be new to blockchain through a custodial wallet for their digital items.

Need evidence of the crypto market’s maturation? Look no further than Deribit, the crypto exchange that registered record trading volumes in 2024.

Total trading volume in Deribit’s product suite, which comprises crypto options, perpetual futures, volatility futures, and spot market, rose 95% from $608 billion in 2023 to $1.185 trillion in 2024.

Options alone registered a trading volume of $743 billion, a 99% year-on-year growth, accounting for a giant share of the total exchange activity. Deribit listed BTC options in 2016 and has since cemented its position as the world’s leading crypto options exchange.

“Deribit saw an increase in activity throughout the year, particularly in Q4 as institutional investors demonstrated heightened optimism around the U.S. presidential election, as well as the $100k Bitcoin bull run that followed,” Deribit’s Chief Commercial Officer Luuk Strijers, said in a note shared with CoinDesk.

“The rise in total platform volume and across our offered products indicates that Deribit continues to be the go-to derivatives exchange, particularly as more professional traders enter the space,” Strijers added.

This impressive boom in trading activity on Deribit reflects a maturation of the market, mainly as spot ETFs and options tied to those ETFs went live in the U.S., accelerating institutional participation. It is a sign of a growing shift toward more sophisticated multi-legged trading strategies involving options, futures, and volatility bets.

Crypto influencers face backlash for amplifying a fraudulent U.S. Treasury XRP wallet, revealed to be a scam.

On Jan. 22, several large influencer accounts began posting about a U.S. Treasury XRP (XRP) wallet. The story quickly snowballed as it gained traction on X through reposts. Influencers either promoted the wallet or questioned its credibility. An on-chain analysis conducted through XRPSCAN has now revealed that the wallet is based in the Philippines.

The purported U.S. Treasury wallet, which is connected to major institutions, including Bank of America and JPMorgan, is fraudulent. The wallet address ‘rfHhX6hA54LBqA3j7r7EnCs6qyaRK2Lyfq’ is also KYC verified, which further bolstered people’s belief that it might be a legit source tied to the United States Treasury.

Now, many within the crypto community are voicing their concern. For instance, Zach Rynes, community coordinator of Chainlink, criticized so-called “crypto-influencers” for spreading rampant misinformation in the XRP community. 

He also explained that in 2021, there was a rumor that the Bank of America was executing all internal payments through Ripple. Crypto influencer David Stryzewski, who recently made the false claims about XRP being a Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC, shared false information on Ripple in a podcast with Former U.S. Senate candidate John E Deaton.

Stryzewski, who is the CEO of Sound Planning Group, also distorted information that Ripple was located in Hong Kong, said Rynes.

Crypto scams on X are on the rise

The proliferation of crypto-related scams has only added to the confusion pervading the industry. There was an 87% spike in daily impersonation accounts in December 2024, according to Scam Sniffer, with numbers rising from an average of 160 in November to more than 300. 

Scam methods are also increasing—from phishing schemes to fake accounts, fraudsters are tampering with duped users on platforms like X.

Recently, Lenovo India and Yahoo News UK were among the big accounts that are having their handles hijacked to promote scam tokens and the losses are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Further sophisticated phishing operations like those mimicking Zoom domains have lifted private keys and wallet credentials, exploiting trust and technical vulnerabilities in blockchain, making it all the more necessary for users to be on their guard.