TL;DR

• Donald Trump’s meme coin TRUMP ranked as the top trending token on January 21, despite its market cap falling from $14.5 billion to $8.5 billion.
• MELANIA and DOGE followed next, with the latter gaining attention due to its connection with Elon Musk’s new government initiative.

These Memes Steal the Show

Donald Trump officially became the 47th President of the United States on January 20. Besides his success on the political scene, the Republican made huge waves in the crypto sector, launching his own meme coin on January 18.

The token, called Official Trump (TRUMP), stunned the crypto community by experiencing an impressive price increase mere hours later. Its market cap briefly soared past $14.5 billion, making it the second-biggest meme coin (trailing only behind DOGE). TRUMP has lost some steam in the past few days, and its current capitalization is less than $8.5 billion. Thus, Shiba Inu (SHIB) reclaimed the second spot. 

Despite its retreat, the buzz surrounding the Trump-themed meme coin remains more than evident. According to Santiment, it ranked as the top trending token across the entire crypto sector on January 21. 

“TRUMP is being discussed following its controversial listing on Coinbase, and the risks involved in investing during a volatile market,” the data analytics platform stated. 

The US-based cryptocurrency exchange is among the latest to embrace the meme coin. Prior to that, Binance, Bybit, and many more allowed trading services with it. 

Interestingly, the second-most trending token is also related to the Trump family – MELANIA, the official meme coin of America’s first lady. 

“MELANIA is trending due to the recent launch of the meme coin, generating immediate significant market activity and volatility. Discussions highlight its association with the Trump meme coin,” Santiment explained.

Similar to TRUMP, MELANIA witnessed a remarkable rally during the first hours of its existence. Its market capitalization climbed above $2 billion on January 20 before tumbling to the current $600 million.

Who’s Third?

The Trump-themed tokens have been more trending than the biggest meme coin in terms of market cap – Dogecoin (DOGE). According to Santiment, the dog-themed asset claimed the third spot, with its rising popularity linked to its association with the newly launched US Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.), led by Elon Musk.

“This initiative has sparked discussion as it intertwines cryptocurrency with government operations, generating buzz on social media. Additionally, discussions around the potential for new meme coins linked to public figures like Trump and Musk contribute to the speculation about Dogecoin’s future performance and relevance in the crypto space,” the platform added.

Tesla’s CEO is known as a firm supporter of the OG meme coin, often praising it on social media. As such, DOGE proponents have raised hopes that he will continue endorsing the asset while being at the helm of the aforementioned division. 

As CryptoPotato reported on January 21, DOGE’s valuation briefly pumped by double digits after the department’s official website featured the meme coin’s logo. We have yet to see whether there will be further announcements that can influence the price in the near future. 

Konstantin Lomashuk, the founder of the Lido staking protocol, has teased his intention to build a “Second Foundation” to advance Ethereum’s ecosystem.

Over the past several days, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined plans for a major restructuring of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), the nonprofit organization responsible for supporting Ethereum’s development. In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Buterin shared details of the reorganization, which he said would streamline decision-making processes and address inefficiencies.

The announcement has sparked criticism, with some arguing that Buterin’s central role in the restructuring process undermines Ethereum’s ethos of decentralization.

The Ethereum Foundation, however, has long been scrutinized for its own centralizing influence within the Ethereum ecosystem. Over the past year, the organization has faced mounting pressure to define a clearer vision for Ethereum’s future as competing networks like Solana make strides.

Read more: Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Goes on Offense Amid Major Leadership Shake-up

The EF has also been criticized for its “rollup-centric” roadmap, which prioritizes “layer-2” networks that enable faster and cheaper transactions atop Ethereum. While these layer-2 rollups have boosted Ethereum’s throughput, they’ve also drawn concerns about potential trade-offs, such as diminished security guarantees and a notable dent in Ethereum’s base fee revenues.

Lomashuk, who has previously voiced concerns about the Ethereum Foundation’s direction, hinted at the concept of a “Second Foundation” in a December post on X. “The idea of a ‘Second Foundation’ is more about creating competition between different groups, giving the community a choice,” Lomashuk wrote. “EF is super deep, and it’s almost impossible for outsiders to contribute without building long-term research muscle. Without competition, we risk losing the right path.”

On Wednesday, Lomashuk published another X post sharing a newly established account for “Second Foundation.”

Representatives for Lomashuk did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Martin Köppelmann, a prominent Ethereum developer close to Lomashuk, told CoinDesk that the “Second Foundation” proposal is authentic.

“He is certainly seriously thinking about it,” Köppelmann said. “The goal of course is to make it open to anyone who subscribes to the same ideas – roughly that Ethereum needs to scale better and faster.”

Lido, the protocol founded by Lomashuk, allows users to pool their ETH to participate in Ethereum’s staking mechanism, which lets users “stake” (lock up) crypto with the network in exchange for interest. Stake correlates to power in Ethereum’s governance system, making Lido a pivotal entity in the ecosystem: Currently, Lido accounts for around 28% of Ethereum’s staked ETH, making it the network’s single-largest validator.

In addition to Lido, Lomashuk co-founded P2P Validator, a company providing infrastructure for Ethereum validators, and cyber.Fund, a venture capital firm he operates alongside another Lido co-founder. His growing influence raises questions about the potential dynamics between a “Second Foundation” and the existing Ethereum Foundation as the network continues to evolve.

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• Samsung wants to expand Knox beyond its traditional enterprise remit
• Three tiers are now available with basic plan available on all Samsung Galaxy devices at no extra cost
• Base, Essentials, and Enterprise plans are tailored to address varying levels of security and management needs

Samsung has announced a new update for Knox Suite, its enterprise security and management solution for Galaxy business smartphones.

The updates introduce a tiered plan system, designed to cater to businesses of various sizes across multiple industries, from small businesses with a cybersecurity checklist through large enterprises.

Secondhand phones with TikTok installed are being listed on eBay for thousands of dollars. And it appears that some people might actually be buying them.

Despite US president Donald Trump signing an executive order on Monday delaying any potential ban of the social media app for 75 days, TikTok remains absent from all US app stores—with Apple and Google giving no hints on whether it will return. That means if you are in America and delete the app or lose your phone, you are currently locked out, with no way to download it again. For content creators, brand marketers, and social media managers, that could spell disaster. And an expensive one at that.

Opportunistic eBayers have taken the chance to cash in on this misfortune. A quick search for “TikTok phone” brings up more than 9,000 listings of used smartphones from the likes of Apple and Samsung, all with the TikTok app already installed.

This is possible by the seller signing out of the iCloud or Google account associated with the device rather than wiping the phone back to factory settings. Any buyer would then need to be careful not to sync to any existing cloud backup, to avoid losing the app they’ve paid so much to get.

Some of these phones are listed for as much as $50,000 under eBay’s Buy It Now selling format, but it’s hard to believe anyone could truly think their phone would sell for that—and there’s no sign that they have.

There are many more listed in the $2,000 to $5,000 range, but as to whether anyone is actually buying them at this price, it still seems unlikely.

What can be said is that, in spite of the inflated prices, there is interest. These phones are selling, but for exactly how much is harder to ascertain. Select the “sold” filter on eBay’s search and there are plenty of sales that appear to be completed, but pretty much all of them have an undisclosed “best offer accepted” note connected to them.

Any finished auctions with incredibly inflated prices look to have been relisted shortly after, suggesting an unsuccessful sale, with only those that sit at close to market value for secondhand phones looking to have actually sold.

A quick glance at auctions that are currently running also show much more reasonable prices than an initial search might suggest.

The true impact of any TikTok premium is somewhat unclear, then, but that isn’t stopping people from trying. Results for the TikTok phone search term went up by over 2,000 items during the course of writing this article—a sense of urgency no doubt pushed along by the fact the app could be returned to the app stores at any time.

At the moment, a TikTok search on either app store is met with statements from Google and Apple citing legal requirements as the reason the app is not available on their stores. This is despite Trump’s executive order clearly instructing the Department of Justice to “take no action to enforce the Act or impose any penalties against any entity for any noncompliance with the Act.”

Whether TikTok reappears before the 75 days is up remains to be seen—as does any deal Trump cuts in the meantime—but those exiled are not completely without options. This week, thousands of users have flocked to another Chinese-owned social media platform, RedNote, leaving the app scrambling to hire English moderators.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has also been doing its bit to take lost TikTokers under its wing, introducing a flurry of new familiar features and even offering big influencers as much as $5,000 to join its platforms.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced plans to improve tax code processing for new private pension recipients starting from April 2025, aiming to ensure people pay the correct amount of tax from the beginning of their pension payments.

The tax authority will implement automatic updates for customers on temporary tax codes who would benefit from being moved to a cumulative code.

Private pensions could be taxed less under HMRC changes

GETTY

The tax authority has assured that pension providers will not need to alter their tax coding processes, as HMRC will handle all adjustments automatically as part of its services.

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Providers will receive notifications when tax codes have been automatically adjusted for their customers.

The new system is expected to reduce the number of tax code error queries that pension providers receive.

Myron Jobson, a senior personal finance analyst at interactive investor, welcomed the change, calling it “a significant step forward in simplifying what can often be a confusing process”.

Pensioners are worried about a potential looming tax raid GETTY

“For too long, pensioners have borne the brunt of systemic inefficiencies, with many unknowingly overpaying tax and waiting months for refunds,” he said.

Jobson added: “This change not only ensures that pensioners are taxed more accurately in real time but also reduces the financial and emotional stress of overpayment.”

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The scale of the current tax code issues was highlighted by recent HMRC figures, which showed the tax authority processed refunds totalling £49,514,458 between October and December 2024.

This substantial sum in refunds over just three months demonstrates why the upcoming changes to tax code processing have become necessary. HMRC emphasised that this automatic tax code update system is part of their broader commitment to enhancing customer service experience.

The change aims to deliver immediate benefits to customers, ensuring they receive the correct pension payments more quickly. This improvement represents one component of HMRC’s wider initiative to streamline services for taxpayers.

Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister and partner at LCP, praised the tax authority’s latest move as a “victory in a 10-year campaign to end the scandal of over-taxed pensions”.

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He explained: “It is great news that, at long last, HMRC has listened to the voices of ordinary taxpayers and changed this scandalous system.

“For too long, hundreds of thousands of people have been overtaxed and had to jump through hoops to claim back their own money.

“This new system should mean that far more people are quickly moved on to the correct tax code and no longer end up with an overpayment of tax.

“The tax system is complex enough as it is, and this change should hopefully reduce the complications which pension savers face when they try to access their hard-earned cash.”

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