Now that the dust from Trump’s inauguration has settled and the market is anticipating the first big crypto move by the new US president, on-chain data reveals that BTC could be poised for another breakout rally soon.

The two major factors that could propel such a price surge are the growing whale activity, as well as the robust network.

BTC Whales Keep Buying

It has been a wild few months in the cryptocurrency space. It all started with the US elections when the self-proclaimed crypto president, Donald Trump, won a decisive victory against the Democrat rival. BTC and the rest of the market shot up immediately.

Despite some shockwaves and substantial turbulence on the way up, bitcoin managed to break through several barriers and ultimately shot up to over $100,000 for the first time ever in December. More volatility ensued in the following weeks, including a price dump to under $90,000 last Monday, but ultimately, the asset’s bull run endured, and it recorded a new all-time high on inauguration day of over $109,000.

Although Trump failed to mention crypto during his speech, which was followed by an expected correction, BTC’s price has managed to remain within six-digit territory and is now a few grand away from charting a fresh peak. Moreover, the positive developments on US soil and perhaps the promise of a more favorable regulatory environment have pushed whales to return with massive price purchases.

Data from Santiment, shared by Ali Martinez, shows that such large market participants had accumulated more than 22,000 BTC (valued at over $2.2 billion) within a span of just 72 hours. Such significant purchases dry up the available supply and reduce the immediate selling pressure, which could potentially lead to fresh price rallies.

Whales have bought over 22,000 #Bitcoin $BTC in the last 72 hours, worth more than $2.24 billion! pic.twitter.com/bl87JcROKU

— Ali (@ali_charts) January 21, 2025

Network Activity

The second factor listed by the popular analyst is the overall network state. The aforementioned whale activity, alongside the growing number of daily active addresses, has resulted in a more robust network shape, which could also serve as a catalyst for “potential price appreciation,” asserted Martinez.

#Bitcoin network activity remains strong, with daily active addresses and whale transactions increasing simultaneously. This trend signals a positive outlook for potential price appreciation. pic.twitter.com/EMf8uyv3SB

— Ali (@ali_charts) January 21, 2025

The dark horse here is the upcoming actions (or lack of them) by Trump. We saw that his failure to mention crypto during his speech resulted in immediate price declines. Consequently, it’s only safe to assume that if he doesn’t follow through on at least a portion of his numerous pro-crypto promises, BTC’s price run could be halted prematurely.

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Donald Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for masterminding an online marketplace for illegal drugs and hacking services.

“The scum that worked to convict him [Ulbricht] were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponisation of government against me,” Trump wrote in post on Truth Social late on Tuesday.

During Ulbricht’s trial, US prosecutors said he had built the anonymous marketplace, known as Silk Road, to exploit the anonymity of the dark web and digital currency bitcoin.

At the time, the case attracted the attention of bitcoin evangelists and libertarian groups who claimed the government was trying to turn web hosting into a criminal activity.

Announcing the pardon, Trump said it was “in honour of the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly”.

Trump had pledged to pardon Ulbricht, who was arrested in 2013 in San Francisco, at the Libertarian party’s national convention last May.

“This is a seismic shift, a rupture in the suffocating wall of state oppression,” the Libertarian party said following the pardon.

The move comes after the crypto industry donated millions of dollars to Trump’s election campaign, in which he pledged to make America the “bitcoin superpower of the world”.

Silk Road was run on the Tor Network and accepted only bitcoin as payment, which US prosecutors said had helped keep its users and their locations anonymous.

The site allowed criminals to sell vast quantities of drugs, computer hacking services and forged documents, among other illegal goods and services, prosecutors said.

The US government seized 173,991 bitcoins from Ulbricht’s laptop at the time of his arrest.

So you need to send some money. Maybe you want to slip a couple of $20 bills in a birthday card. Maybe it’s a larger payment for some not-at-all-sketchy, off-the-books services rendered. Either way, it can be a pain to send paper money without having to worry that it might mysteriously slip out of your envelope into someone else’s pocket.

“Sending cash physically via mail or something is probably one of the least efficient options for moving money around,” says Kevin L. Matthews, a financial advisor who has offered money advice for WIRED before. “It’s not necessarily something that I would recommend.”

The problem, he says, is that if something goes wrong and the cash goes missing, there’s really nothing you can do about it. There are better ways to transfer finances, but if you absolutely have to get your coins from one piggy bank to another, here are the best ways to do so without getting ripped off.

Don’t Get Scammed

To be clear upfront, you should not just stick a wad of cash in the mail and hope for the best. There’s too high of a chance it will get lost, stolen, or otherwise wind up in the hands of someone you don’t intend.

And to that last point, if you are sending somebody any kind of payment, ask yourself these basic questions: Do you personally know the individual you’re sending money too? Have you vetted the agency purporting to get your dough to the right place? Is there any fine print? Does the method for sending money seem too good to be true? If any of those questions give you pause, it’s probably a scam.

Scams are evolving quickly, Matthews says, and they are getting more difficult to detect all the time. “The number one rule is, don’t ever send any money to anyone that you do not know. And don’t be afraid to call and check. That’s always an option. Be careful of the details, verify the information, and just make sure this makes sense. Because usually once that money walks out the door, it’s absolutely not coming back.”

There are lots of ways to keep yourself and your loved ones from getting ripped off and protect yourself from AI scam calls. (Grandma, I promise you, Charter.bot texting to ask you to send it gift cards is not a legitimate way to pay your cable bill.)

Paper Trail

There are ways to send cash safely. If you’re just sending a small amount, like slapping a fiver in a birthday card, using the regular mail system is probably fine. You run the risk of it getting lost, like with anything you mail. But if you care about the money getting where it needs to go, you should insure it or send a money order.

In the US, you’re allowed to ship cash up to $500 without having to register it with the US Postal Service. It’s not technically illegal to send more than that through the US Mail, but it’s also not a good idea. If you do need to send cash and don’t mind Uncle Sam knowing about it, you can insure your package for a value of up to $50,000. There are a couple caveats, though.

My parents are literally the backbone of my story. They’ve always supported me in good and bad times and never for once left my side whenever I feel lost in this world. Honestly, having such amazing parents makes you feel safe and secure, and I won’t trade them for anything else in this world.

I was exposed to the cryptocurrency world 3 years ago and got so interested in knowing so much about it. It all started when a friend of mine invested in a crypto asset, which he yielded massive gains from his investments.

When I confronted him about cryptocurrency he explained his journey so far in the field. It was impressive getting to know about his consistency and dedication in the space despite the risks involved, and these are the major reasons why I got so interested in cryptocurrency.

Trust me, I’ve had my share of experience with the ups and downs in the market but I never for once lost the passion to grow in the field. This is because I believe growth leads to excellence and that’s my goal in the field. And today, I am an employee of Bitcoinnist and NewsBTC news outlets.

My Bosses and co-workers are the best kinds of people I have ever worked with, in and outside the crypto landscape. I intend to give my all working alongside my amazing colleagues for the growth of these companies.

Sometimes I like to picture myself as an explorer, this is because I like visiting new places, I like learning new things (useful things to be precise), I like meeting new people – people who make an impact in my life no matter how little it is.

One of the things I love and enjoy doing the most is football. It will remain my favorite outdoor activity, probably because I’m so good at it. I am also very good at singing, dancing, acting, fashion and others.

I cherish my time, work, family, and loved ones. I mean, those are probably the most important things in anyone’s life. I don’t chase illusions, I chase dreams.

I know there is still a lot about myself that I need to figure out as I strive to become successful in life. I’m certain I will get there because I know I am not a quitter, and I will give my all till the very end to see myself at the top.

I aspire to be a boss someday, having people work under me just as I’ve worked under great people. This is one of my biggest dreams professionally, and one I do not take lightly. Everyone knows the road ahead is not as easy as it looks, but with God Almighty, my family, and shared passion friends, there is no stopping me.

Dogecoin (DOGE) retraced Tuesday’s gains while Solana’s SOL jumped 8% higher as crypto markets rebounded on Wednesday to reverse some losses from earlier in the week.

DOGE fell 7.5% amid profit taking, data shows, to trade at 36 cents in European noon hours, paring gains after a jump from 34 cents to 38 cents on Tuesday — when it surged following the display of its token’s logo on the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency website.

The website was later updated in Asian morning hours Wednesday to show another animated image of a dog. It was updated again in the afternoon to showcase only its name and a dollar sign.

Crypto majors showed mixed movement as bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and BNB Chain’s BNB gained under 1% in the past 24 hours, while Solana’s SOL and XRP surged as much as 7%. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20) returned 2.57%.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token zoomed 13%, returning the most among large-cap tokens above a $5 billion capitalization. As such, traders look to Donald Trump’s executive orders and tariff decisions for cues on market positioning.

“Crypto markets have dipped as traders take profit and wait to see the potential impact of tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which could impact stock markets when the US stock market opens tomorrow,” Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE said in a Telegram message.

“However, we are optimistic that in the coming days and weeks, Trump will issue executive orders and roll back anti-crypto policies set by the Biden administration. With the recent appointment of pro-crypto Caroline Pham as CFTC Commissioner, we’re already seeing positive signals,” Mei added.

Traders such as FxPro’s Alex Kuptsikevich mirrored the thoughts in an email to CoinDesk.

“The market’s rapid recovery is indicative of continued interest in risk assets. Bitcoin traded near the $105K mark. It was quickly bought back on Tuesday when it fell to $101K, but when it reached the $107K level early Wednesday afternoon, the market shifted to sellers. Clearly, optimism is high in the market, but an additional factor is needed for new momentum,” Kuptsikevich said.

When George Avetisov was the founder and CEO of cybersecurity startup HYPR, he spent a lot of time in the trenches with the company’s sales team. He quickly realized that regardless of how good his sales team was, they were consistently pulling in other departments to answer customer questions or fill out technical questionnaires.

“They don’t know the answers to most questions that get asked of them,” Avetisov told TechCrunch. “They have to ask a product person, they have to pull in a sales engineer. It’s a daunting task, and these people are brilliant, like I’ve worked with some amazing sales reps, but the problem with sales is there’s no easy way for them to automate knowledge.”

Avetisov (pictured above in the center) decided that would be his next problem to solve. He left HYPR in 2021 and took a brief interlude from startups to play and beat video game Elden Ring; Avetisov said he wanted a little downtime before being all consumed by another startup. He launched his new company, 1up, in 2022.

1up is an AI-powered knowledge automation platform for sales teams that pulls information from internal company data sources and databases. Sales professionals can turn to 1up to find answers to their product or technical questions, execute requests for proposal and also use it help fill out technical questionnaires.

The company launched publicly in January 2024 and has since amassed nearly 100 customers that range from startups to large enterprise customers including WalkMe and Deliveroo. The company has been able to land a not insignificant portion of these customers through an unorthodox marketing strategy: memes.

“We run one of the biggest sales meme libraries in the community, and we get millions of impressions on LinkedIn,” Avetisov said. “People follow us just from our memes. I know it’s a little weird, but like, one out of three of our leads comes from a meme.”

Now the company is announcing a $5 million funding round led by Upfront Ventures with participation from RRE Ventures, 8-Bit Capital, and individuals like Friendster founder Jonathan Adams, among others. Upfront general partner Kobie Fuller is the lead investor and will take a seat on the company’s board.

Fuller told TechCrunch that he got a cold email from Avetisov just days after one of his portfolio companies mentioned 1up might be a good fit for Fuller’s investment thesis regarding how AI will change enterprise’s approach to knowledge. When talking about this thesis to Avetisov, Fuller said they were speaking the exact same language.

“So much of how we make investment decisions is around the founder and George, a second-time founder, saw the problem and pain point first hand,” Fuller said. “When we talk with George, he can dive in at whatever level or depth in a manor you don’t see all the time with CEOs. You can tell he’s mission driven, he has 1up tattooed on his inner wrist. He’s really, really in it; he’s incredibly scrappy.”

Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, AI startups building for sales departments have exploded, especially when it comes to building AI tools that help customers generate sales leads and with client outreach. Companies looking to provide knowledge centers for enterprises, many of which popped up prior to 2022, started gaining momentum, too.

Avetisov isn’t deterred, though. He said that 1up provides such a different service than the AI sales lead generators that he doesn’t think 1up is competing for the same line in a company’s budget. He said that he doesn’t think companies need all-encompassing knowledge centers, but 1up’s approach is different because it solves a specific problem.

“When you talk to the enterprise, knowledge management is not a budget item. It’s not a hair on fire problem,” Avetisov said. “Our philosophy on this is that for knowledge automation to succeed and become a billion-dollar company or industry, it needs to be laser-focused on a persona and on a department.”

The next steps for 1up, now that its raised this recent funding, is to scale out the sales team. There will also be some feature upgrades, though Avetisov wasn’t ready to share the details on those quite yet.

“Sales teams get a lot of shit,” Avetisov said. “They have one of the hardest jobs in the company, and their tool set is horrible. They’ve got so many tools for prospecting and CRMs and all that stuff. But when it comes to knowledge management, they have been completely neglected. So that’s our hot take. That’s our laser focus.”