The Block
Quick Take Ahead of the Iowa caucus on Monday night, crypto advocates such as Messari CEO Ryan Selkis said he would be “pretty depressed tonight if Vivek comes in fourth.” In the Republican contest, former President Donald Trump clenched a win, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, with Ramaswamy coming in fourth, according to reports.
Quick Take Chainlink has integrated Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP) with its CCIP system. The firm will use CCTP to handle secure USDC stablecoin transfers across different blockchains.
Quick Take Decentralized Infrastructure, the DePIN startup building out the DIMO network, raised $11.5 million in Series A funding in a round led by CoinFund. CoinFund’s Chief Investment Officer Alex Felix will join the startup’s board of directors. The DIMO network is a decentralized car data protocol, and its companion app allows users to view their car data and earn token rewards.
Quick Take Anichess said today that it has partnered with Chess.com and Magnus Carlsen, a five-time World Chess Champion.
Quick Take Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of USDC-issuer Circle, said there is a “very good chance” that the U.S. government will pass stablecoin laws this year.
Quick Take: Solana Mobile is planning to launch a cheaper successor to the Saga crypto smartphone, CoinDesk reported. Demand for Saga devices surged in December amid an arbitrage opportunity presented by the 30 million bonk tokens that come with the phone.
Quick Take Decentralized exchange aggregator Jupiter will release its governance token, JUP, on January 31. The launch will include an airdrop of the token to nearly one million crypto wallets in its first phase.
Klaytn Foundation and Finschia Foundation announced a proposal to merge their blockchains — aiming for web3 dominance in Asia.
Quick Take Gulf Binance, the joint venture, has commenced full crypto exchange operations for the general public, the company said today.
Quick Take: The price of SOL has dropped by more than 8% in the past 24 hours, marking the largest decline among larger cryptocurrencies. Long positions were impacted the most, with over $6 million in SOL longs liquidated.
