British sports streaming platform DAZN Group Ltd. has lined up a A$1.8 billion ($1.1 billion) loan to finance its acquisition of pay-television and streaming company Foxtel Group in Australia, according to people familiar with the matter.
Anthropic CEO has promised several updates to Claude, including one that gives it memory.
This means the AI can remember things and bring it up in future conversations.
It remains to be seen how this performs and is slated to arrive in the coming months.
The Claude AI chatbot will receive major upgrades in the months ahead, including the ability to listen and respond by voice alone. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei explained the plans to the Wall Street Journal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, including the voice mode and an upcoming memory feature.
Essentially, Claude is about to get a personality boost, allowing it to talk back and remember who you are. The two-way voice mode promises to let users speak to Claude and hear it respond, creating a more natural, hands-free conversation. Whether this makes Claude a more accessible version of itself or will let it mimic a human on the phone is questionable, though.
Either way, Anthropic seems to be aiming for a hybrid between a traditional chatbot and voice assistants like Alexa or Siri, though presumably with all the benefits of its more advanced AI.
Claude’s upcoming memory feature will allow the chatbot to recall past interactions. For example, you could share your favorite book, and Claude will remember it the next time you chat. You could even discuss your passion for knitting sweaters and Claude will pick up the thread in your next conversation. While this memory function could lead to more personalized exchanges, it also raises questions about what happens when Claude mixes those memories with an occasional hallucination.
Claude demand
Still, there’s no lack of interest in what Claude can do. Amodei mentioned that Anthropic has been overwhelmed by the surge in demand for AI over the past year. Amodei explained that the company’s compute capacity has been stretched to its limits in recent months.
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Anthropic’s push for Claude’s upgrades is part of its effort to stay competitive in a market dominated by OpenAI and tech giants like Google. With OpenAI and Google integrating ChatGPT and Gemini into everything they can think of, Anthropic needs to find a way to stand out. By adding voice and memory to Claude’s repertoire, Anthropic hopes to stand out as an alternative that might lure away fans of ChatGPT and Gemini.
A voice-enabled, memory-enhanced AI chatbot like Claude may also serve as a leader, or at least a competitor, among the trend of making AI chatbots seem more human. The aim seems to be to blur the line between a tool and a companion. And if you want people to use Claude to that extent, a voice and a memory are going to be essential.
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Ethereum has been consolidating in a tight price range for several months, trading between $3,200 and $3,500. Despite the broader market’s recent upward movement, ETH still struggles to break out of this range.
This stagnation comes after a prolonged decline from its all-time high of $4,800, recorded in late 2021. The cryptocurrency is now down roughly 32% from this peak.
Notably, even the appointment of the new pro-crypto administration and a renewed sense of regulatory clarity have done little to propel Ethereum beyond its current resistance levels.
Amid these market conditions, ShayanBTC, a contributor to CryptoQuant’s QuickTake platform, has highlighted a critical metric that could signal an impending price move for ETH.
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Elevated Leverage Ratios In Ethereum And Its Implications
According to Shayan in a recent analysis uploaded on the CryptoQuant QuickTake platform, the Estimated Leverage Ratio of Ethereum—a measure of the average leverage used by futures market participants—has been climbing steadily so far.
This rise as reported by Shayan reflects an increased willingness among traders to take on risk, even as Ethereum’s price remains stuck in consolidation. With leverage at elevated levels, the stage may be set for a significant price swing, though its direction remains uncertain. Shayan noted:
The impending breakout from this range, driven by the high-leverage environment, is expected to trigger a significant and impulsive price move.
Shayan elaborated that as more traders take on higher leverage, the market becomes more susceptible to sharp price movements. This is because if these leveraged positions are liquidated—either through a short or long squeeze—it could trigger a sudden and significant price adjustment.
The ongoing consolidation around $3,200–$3,500 has heightened interest in what lies ahead for Ethereum. The CryptoQuant analyst wrote:
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Given the prevailing market sentiment, a bullish breakout appears more probable. However, traders should monitor the leverage ratio closely, as any abrupt change could lead to unexpected volatility and liquidations.
ETH Market Performance
At the time of writing, ETH trades at $3,282, declining by 0.1% in the past 24 hours. Interestingly, despite this lackluster performance from ETH, the asset’s daily trading volume in the past week has been quite positive.
Last Wednesday, ETH’s trading volume sat below $20 billion, however as of today, Ethereum’s daily trading volume hovers above $24 billion. This is quite an opposite trend especially when compared to ETH’s market performance over the same period.
According to Javon Marks, a renowned crypto analyst on X, Ethereum appears to be on the verge of a significant rally to $12,000 due to a similar performance to the Fib Level as it did in a previous bull cycle.
ETH (Ethereum), with a similar performance to the 1.618 Fib Level as it did this past bull cycle, could be set for a near +240% increase from here to the $11,865.6 levels!
A 5 Figure ETH may be on the way and in-development now and this can help many Altcoins into major runs . pic.twitter.com/eJT1Fu986b
The election of Donald Trump promises a new era for digital assets characterized by greater regulatory certainty and a surge in market activity. The question now is whether this shift is sustainable, or a temporary reaction to the political climate.
According to CCData’s latest Exchange Review report, aggregated spot and derivatives volumes, the most common measure evaluated for market participation, recorded a new yearly high in 2024, greatly exceeding the previous record set in 2021 ($75 trillion vs $64 trillion). With the election driving market activity and speculation, November and December were both record-breaking months for volumes, with $10.51 trillion and $11.31 trillion in monthly volumes, respectively. For context, the 2024 average (the biggest year on record) was roughly $6.4 trillion.
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Concurrently, stablecoins reached a total market cap of $210.1 billion, its highest ever point, on inauguration day, according to DeFiLlama. This reflects a YTD increase of 3.3% thus far, on the back of improved liquidity conditions across both centralized and decentralized exchanges, supporting the influx of fresh volumes seen in the last few months.
Assets “made in the USA” have been doing particularly well. These have been an outlier since the election, where a permissive regulatory environment, and the promise of more favourable conditions for US-based assets, have generated significant investor interest and speculation. Coins such as XRP, SOL, XLM and ALGO, which have a strong U.S.- affiliation, have seen outsized returns. Per CCData, the basket associated with these coins is up over 360%, outpacing the market by a sizeable margin. This marks an about-turn from the previous administration’s regulatory clampdown, which kept these under scrutiny for many years as they were ultimately deemed securities by the SEC.
Whether this unprecedented growth continues will depend heavily on the new Trump administration’s execution of its promises on a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, incentives for domestic bitcoin mining, and other issues. The broader market may also benefit as we enter into the expansionary phase of the bitcoin four-year historical cycle, which tends to see explosive growth in the final year.
It will be interesting to see whether this new administration will impact the market cycles to which the cryptocurrency sector has grown accustomed, or whether it will mark a significant departure from historical trends.
Solana (SOL) has entered 2025 on a strong note, posting gains on both a monthly and weekly basis. However, Solana (SOL) remains criticized for its ecosystem rate of inflation and network outages that have plagued the platform. Meanwhile, Remittix is amassing popularity among investors for its pragmatic approach to solving issues in the cross-border payment space. Packing plenty of utility for investors, businesses and individuals, this project is poised to disrupt the PayFi space in 2025. So what are the key features that are drawing so many to Remittix and how will Solana fare over the next quarter?
Solana (SOL) Posts Strong Gains In January
Solana (SOL) had a slow 2024, causing impatience among many holders, though it has caught a second wind in the first few weeks of January. Solana’s net gain now stands at 61% over the last month with most of that increase over just the last week. Solana’s market cap has stormed back past $100 billion now settling on $124.51 billion. Though it’s not clear how much further Solana (SOL) could go. Despite its successes, some critics of Solana (SOL) are still skeptical of its growth, believing it may face corrective price action in the near future.
A New Era for Cross-Border Payments
Via the powerful Remittix (RTX) platform, users can convert over 40 cryptocurrencies into fiat currencies and transfer funds directly to global bank accounts. Unlike traditional systems laden with hidden fees and unpredictability, Remittix operates with a flat rate pricing model, ensuring that recipients receive exactly what is sent. This straightforward approach and the cost effective structure make Remittix an appealing option for both personal and business use.
Crypto Payment Adoption for Businesses
Remittix also offers powerful tools for businesses to embrace cryptocurrency as a viable payment option. The Remittix Pay API is an impressive piece of technology, enabling companies to accept crypto payments from their customers while settling transactions in fiat and transferring the funds to their desired bank account. This solution is particularly ideal for individuals and businesses who are aware of the potential of the cryptocurrency market and customer base, but who do not feel comfortable navigating its complexities.
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User Privacy
Another key feature of Remittix (RTX) is its focus on user privacy. Transactions processed through Remittix arrive as conventional bank transfers, completely hiding their cryptocurrency origins. This approach offers both individuals and businesses greater confidence in adopting blockchain solutions without attracting unwanted attention. This is particularly helpful in industries where crypto payments may carry some stigma.
Remittix Presale Surpasses $4 Million Raised
Currently in its presale phase, Remittix (RTX) is demonstrating potential having already raised over $4 million and maintaining its strong momentum. Tokens are available for $0.0228 and analysts expect an explosive 800% price surge for the token by the time the presale ends and a potential 5,000% spike post launch.
With its practical approach to real world issues, Remittix (RTX) is positioning itself as a major player in the prosperous global cross-border payments market. For those who want to be a part of the next big thing in DeFi, this is not a project to sleep on.
Discover the future of PayFi with Remittix by checking out their presale here:
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release and is for informational purposes only. It does not reflect the views of Crypto Daily, nor is it intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, or financial advice.
In an interview with Fox News, President Trump downplayed the threat of China using TikTok to spy on Americans. Trump suggested all electronic products manufactured in China could carry a risk, adding that the social media app was not the most serious of them. “Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids, watching crazy videos?” Trump said. (Source: Bloomberg)
Google has agreed to acquire a part of HTC’s extended reality (XR) business for $250 million, expanding its push into virtual and augmented reality hardware following the recent launch of its Android XR platform.
The deal involves transferring some of the HTC VIVE engineering staff to Google and granting non-exclusive intellectual property rights, according to the Taiwanese firm. HTC will retain rights to use and develop the technology.
Google said the acquisition will accelerate Android XR platform development across headsets and glasses. The move comes as tech giants race to establish dominance in XR technology, with Apple and Meta maintaining their lead in the virtual reality market.
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Google and HTC will explore additional collaboration opportunities, they said.
North Dakota’s lawmakers have introduced a bill aimed to combat crypto ATM transactions after 103 state residents reported $6.5 million in losses to crypto scams in 2023.
Netflix will raise prices across the board for its U.S. customers by between $1 and $2.50 per month, banking on the appeal of a new season of “Stranger Things” to draw in more viewers. Read More
After a leaked page detailed Solana and XRP futures on CME, a spokesperson confirmed that it was an early mock-up and no official plans have been finalized yet.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a global leader in derivatives trading, may be gearing up to introducefutures contracts for Solana (SOL) and Ripple (XRP) as early as Feb. 10, according to a leaked page from their beta website. While the page was quickly removed, it detailed key specifications for the contracts.
However, Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that a CME spokesperson described the beta website as a draft environment used for mock-ups, which was mistakenly made public.
A @CMEGroup spokesperson tells @FoxBusiness that the beta version of the website, which is often used for mock up drafts, was made public in error. No official decisions have yet been made about launching futures contracts for either token. https://t.co/10XfenoIL7
“No official decisions have yet been made about launching futures contracts for either token,” the spokesperson clarified.
James Seyffart, a Bloomberg ETF analyst, commented on the leak, stating, “Honestly, it makes sense and is largely to be expected if true.”
Assuming “beta.cmegroup” is actually a beta/test version of the actual CMEGroup website — looks like CME is expecting to launch SOL & XRP futures on Feb 10. But this isn’t available on the actual website yet.
According to the leaked details, the futures contracts for both Solana and XRP would be available in standard and micro sizes.
Solana’s standard contracts would feature a 500 SOL lot size, with micro contracts reduced to 25 SOL. Similarly, XRP’s standard futures contracts would involve 50,000 XRP per lot, with micro contracts sized at 2,500 XRP.
All contracts are expected to settle in U.S. dollars, making them convenient for institutional players wary of dealing with direct crypto settlements.
The reelection of Donald Trump and the resignation of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler have led to renewed optimism among investors, with firms racing to bring products like Solana and XRP ETFs to market.
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ProShares, for example, submitted a Solana futures ETF application on Jan. 17, while WisdomTree filed for an XRP ETF in December 2024. Other firms, including Bitwise, 21Shares, and Canary Capital, are also vying to introduce various ETFs.
Seyffart noted that the availability of Solana futures on CME could address questions about whether the current Solana futures market—dominated by Coinbase—has the necessary liquidity for such products. “I’m not sure if the Coinbase SOL futures are large and liquid enough,” Seyffart remarked in an earlier tweet.
NEW: ProShares just filed for a Solana Futures ETF. VolatilityShares also filed for one of these back in December. Interesting because there arent CME futures yet and i’m not sure if the Coinbase SOL futures are large and liquid enough? pic.twitter.com/7dUPIQw37z
It’s an ultra-wide zoom lens designed for full-frame cameras like the Canon EOS R8
Practically identical design to the RF 28-70mm F2.8 IS STM
A £1,249 list price – we’ll confirm US and Australia pricing asap
Canon has unveiled its latest ultra-wide angle zoom lens for it’s full-frame mirrorless cameras, the RF 16-28mm F2.8 IS STM, and I got a proper feel for it during a hands-on session hosted by Canon ahead of its launch.
It features a bright maximum F2.8 aperture across its entire 16-28mm range, and is a much more compact and affordable option for enthusiasts than Canon’s pro RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM lens. Consider the 16-28mm a sensible match for Canon’s beginner and mid-range full-frame cameras instead, such as the EOS R8.
Design-wise, the 16-28mm is a perfect match with the RF 28-70mm F2.8 IS STM lens – the pair share the same control layout and are almost identical in size, even if the 28-70mm lens is around 10 percent heavier.
The new lens is seemingly part of a move by Canon to deliver more accessible fast aperture zooms that fit better with Canon’s smaller mirrorless bodies – the 16-28mm weighs just 15.7oz / 445g and costs £1,249 – that’s much less than the comparable pro L-series lens.
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Alongside the RF 28-70mm F2.8 lens – the two lenses are clearly designed to pair up.(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
Attached to the EOS R8(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
The maximum F2.8 aperture is available whatever focal length you set the lens to. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)
The right fit for enthusiasts
Despite its lower price tag, the 16-28mm still feels reassuringly solid – the rugged lens is made in Japan and features a secure metal lens mount. You get a customizable control ring, autofocus / manual focus switch plus an optical stabilizer switch, and that’s the extent of the external controls.
When paired with a Canon camera that features in-body image stabilization, such as the EOS R6 Mark II, you get up to 8 stops of stabilization, although the cheaper EOS R8 isn’t blessed with that feature, and for which the lens offers 5.5 stops of stabilization alone.
I tested the 16-28mm lens with an EOS R8 and the pair is a perfect match, as is the EOS R6 Mark II which is only a little bit bigger.
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It’s official – the 16-28mm is made in Japan.(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
The physical controls include a control ring, zoom ring, AF / MF switch plus optical stabilizer switch. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)
The lens packs away smaller with the zoom ring rotated to the off position(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
At 16mm the lens is physically at its longest.(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
Zoom to 28mm and the lens barrel retracts a little.(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
I didn’t get too many opportunities to take pictures with the new lens during my brief hands-on, but I have taken enough sample images captured in raw and JPEG format to get a good enough idea of the lens’ optical qualities and deficiencies.
For example, at the extreme wide angle 16mm setting and with the lens aperture wide open at F2.8, raw files demonstrate severe curvilinear distortion and vignetting. Look at the corresponding JPEG, which was captured simultaneously, and you can see just how much lens correction is being applied to get you clean JPEGs out of the camera (check out the gallery of sample images below).
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An unprocessed raw file with the lens set to 16mm and F2.8. You can see severe vignetting in the corners and barrel distortion(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
That exact same photo but the processed JPEG version. See how much the camera has done to correct all those distortions.(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
Here I’m shooting a selfie at 28mm and F2.8. Barrel distortion is less obvious, although light fall off is. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)
And here’s the same photo but the processed JPEG. The detail in sharply focused areas; my eyes, stubble and clothing, is super sharp (Image credit: Tim Coleman)
Again, another uncorrected raw file with the lens set to 16mm and F2.8(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
And here’s the processed JPEG. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)
28mm F2.8, unedited raw file. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)
Once again, the JPEG version of the image with 28mm F2.8 lens settings. Much cleaner.(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
The detail in this JPEG image, shot at 16mm, is super sharp everywhere in the frame. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)
This image was taken with the lens set to 28mm and the aperture to f/8. Optically this is the optimum settings for the lens and overall the image quality majorly impresses. (Image credit: Tim Coleman)
Those lens distortions really are quite severe, but when you look at the JPEG output, all is forgiven – even with such heavy processing taking place to correct curvilinear distortion and vignetting, detail is consistently sharp from the center to the very edges and corners of the frame, while light fall off in the corners is mostly dealt with.
I’ll go out on a limb and suggest the target audience for this lens will be less concerned with these lens distortions, so long as it’s possible to get the end results you like, and my first impressions are that you can certainly do that – I’ve grabbed some sharp selfies and urban landscapes, with decent control over depth of field, plus enjoyed the extra wide perspective that makes vlogging a whole lot easier.
(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
A worthy addition to the Canon RF-mount family?
I expect most photographers and filmmakers will mostly use the 16-28mm lens’ extreme ends of its zoom range; 16mm and 28mm. The former is particularly handy for video work thanks to its ultra wide perspective, while it’s a versatile range for landscape and architecture photography.
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That zoom range is hardly extensive, however, and I’m not sure if it’s a lens that particularly excites me, even if it does make a sensible pairing with the RF 28-70mm F2.8 for enthusiasts.
It is much cheaper than a comparable L-series lens, but I’d hardly call a £1,249 lens cheap. Also, why not just pick up the RF 16mm F2.8 STM and the RF 28mm F2.8 prime lenses instead? These are Canon’s smallest lenses for full-frame cameras and the pair combined costs half the price of the 16-28mm F2.8.
As capable as the 16-28mm appears to be on my first impressions – it’s a super sharp lens with versatile maximum aperture – I’m simply not convinced how much extra it brings to the RF-mount table, and if there’s enough of a case for it for most people.
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MARKS (@JavonTM1) 
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