• A new rumor suggests the RTX 5090 will use 600W of power
• Comments in a Chinese forum point toward the new GPU being much louder
• PSU requirements are 1000W according to Corsair

Nvidia‘s RTX 5090 promises to provide a step up from the previous generation’s RTX 4090, but that could come at a significant cost according to new rumors – and you might want to invest in a beefy power supply.

As reported by Tomasz Gawronski on X, discussions within Chiphell (a Chinese forum page about the latest PC hardware) suggest that Nvidia’s RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPU will use 600W of power while being much louder compared to the 4090. This is based on what appears to be an upcoming review with the embargo set for January 24, with a post translated from Chinese that says “The editor cursed while testing… After all, the power consumption increased, the current increased, and the screaming also increased~”.

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.

Chinese officials were prepared for Donald Trump to deliver bad news on his return to the US presidency: immediate 60 per cent tariffs on exports that could deal a serious blow to the world’s second-largest economy. 

Instead, they received an apparent reprieve this week. Trump ordered an investigation into US-China trade, and later reiterated the threat of a 10 per cent tariff related to the deadly opioid fentanyl.

The threat of a 10 per cent levy, which Trump suggested could be applied on February 1, hit China’s stocks and currency on Wednesday. The mainland’s CSI 300 index fell 1 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng retreated 1.6 per cent, while the offshore renminbi was the worst-performing major Asian currency, weakening 0.25 per cent to Rmb7.29 a dollar.

But Trump’s opening moves on China were less severe than the 25 per cent tariffs he announced on US allies Mexico and Canada. He also hinted at a potential broader deal linking tariffs to ownership of TikTok, the Chinese-controlled short-video platform that US security hawks want to shut down.

Despite Trump’s tendency for erratic statements and rapid changes of course, this softer than expected prelude has rekindled hope in Beijing that negotiations might be possible to avert a second trade war. Now, the question is what kind of deal would be acceptable to both sides. 

“There is a possibility that the two sides can strike a deal — you can sense there is cautious optimism,” said Zhao Minghao, professor at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. “But we will need to see if there is a good match between what Trump and Beijing can offer each other.”

Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping held a phone call the weekend before the inauguration, their first in four years, which the US president described as “very good” and covered “Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects”.

Xi also dispatched the most senior Chinese official to ever attend a US inauguration, vice-president Han Zheng, who also met US business leaders including Trump confidant Elon Musk.

During his campaign, Trump had vowed to hit China with 60 per cent tariffs upon taking office, and later threatened an additional 10 per cent on day one to compel Beijing to crack down on flows of precursor drugs for fentanyl.

Instead, on Monday he issued a memo directing officials to investigate the US trade deficit and “recommend appropriate measures, such as a global supplemental tariff or other policies, to remedy such deficits”. 

He also asked the US Trade Representative to study Beijing’s compliance with the “phase one” deal agreed during his first term as president, and to consider additional tariffs “particularly with respect to industrial supply chains and circumvention through third countries” — a move with potentially much further-reaching implications for China.

Economists believe part of China’s trade with the US has been diverted through third countries to avoid tariffs since the trade war of Trump’s first administration. The US officials are due to report their findings on April 1. 

Although Trump signed an order allowing TikTok to operate for 75 days — a turnaround from his first term, where he had sought to ban it from the US — he also said Beijing would need to allow a US entity to take half of the company or face tariffs of up to 100 per cent. 

The linking of tariffs to TikTok’s ownership followed quixotic remarks on Monday by Musk, who complained that while the former was allowed to operate in the US, his social media site X was blocked in China. 

One person familiar with the matter in China said Beijing might agree to TikTok’s owner ByteDance selling the platform as part of a broader deal that would cover a range of issues including trade. However, any such discussions were at an early stage, the person said. 

Chinese officials, who have long opposed a forced sale of TikTok and would need to approve it, have in recent days appeared to signal a more hands-off approach.

“When it comes to actions such as the operation and acquisition of businesses, we believe it should be independently decided by companies in accordance with market principles,” the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, adding that “China’s laws and regulations should be observed”.

Gabriel Wildau, managing director at consultancy Teneo, wrote in an analyst note that Chinese leaders might “believe that an amicable resolution of the TikTok issue could lay groundwork for co-operation” on other issues.

“These could include tariffs, export controls, and — in a dream scenario for Beijing — even US policy towards Taiwan and the South China Sea,” Wildau said.

However, economists warned that it was too early to be confident that trade conflict could be averted. While Trump sounded more open to dealmaking, his administration was filled with China hawks, they said.

“This is more of a holding pattern for now,” said Fred Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC. “It is somewhat encouraging that we didn’t see an immediate rise and tariffs and that maybe there is some room for discussions beforehand. But I think it would be the wrong conclusion to say that China is now entirely off the hook.”

Aside from trade, Beijing could offer Trump help on other issues, such as resolving the Ukraine war, said Wang Chong, a foreign policy expert at Zhejiang International Studies University.

Wang warned, however, that Beijing was ready if relations broke down. Even if the US started with small tariff increases, it would undermine investor confidence in China. “If tariffs are imposed, China should fight,” Wang said.

Additional reporting by Arjun Neil Alim in Hong Kong