January 21, 2026 |
Neynar Buys Farcaster; Mask Stewards Lens |
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🔄 SocialFi Protocol Updates
Farcaster acquired by Neynar: Neynar announced its acquisition of the Farcaster protocol from Merkle Manufactory. Merkle Manufactory, founded by Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan (former Coinbase executives), raised $150 million in a 2024 Series A at a $1 billion valuation with investors including Paradigm. Dan Romero stated: "Neynar is acquiring Farcaster. Over the next few weeks, we’ll transfer ownership of the protocol contracts and code repositories, the Farcaster app, and Clanker to Neynar. They will run and maintain everything going forward." The protocol reported $1.84 million in earnings for the fourth quarter of 2025, an 85% year-over-year decline. Confusion arose over how Neynar acquired a protocol linked to a $1 billion valuation. The transaction involves Neynar receiving the protocol contracts, code repositories, Farcaster app, and Clanker, while Merkle Manufactory, the company that raised the $150 million and reached the $1 billion valuation, along with founders Dan Romero, Varun Srinivasan, and some team members, step back from Farcaster to pursue something new. Read More.
Another SocialFi transition with Lens: In a parallel development in SocialFi, Mask Network announced it will steward Lens Protocol going forward, with focus on product development and consumer adoption. Avara retains an advisory role, while Aave Labs supports governance and ecosystem integrity. Lens, a Layer 2 blockchain for decentralized social, has operated at scale for three years. Mask Network, founded in 2017 by Suji Yan, will lead this phase. Suji Yan said: "Mask's mission is to make decentralized social accessible, intuitive, and ready for real-world use." Stani Kulechov stated: "Lens has fulfilled its core mission: proving that user-owned, decentralized social networks can work at scale on open infrastructure and support user-friend experiences. With that foundation now in place, the next chapter is about consumer adoption, and that's where Suji and Mask's product leadership is essential to bringing decentralized social into everyday use." Read More.
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 ️ On today's Top Picks:
- 🥀 US Crypto Market Structure Bill potentially delayed.
- 💎 Nado launches "The Choice" for Private Alpha users.
- 🪂 Seeker $SKR (Solana Mobile) launches airdrop claim.
- 🤔 President Trump cancels new tariffs on EU countries.
Read time: ⏰ 7 minutes
 Crypto News
• ⭐️ Neynar acquires Farcaster for an undisclosed amount; includes protocol, Farcaster app, & Clanker; founders Dan Romero, Varun Srinivasan, & other team members to "move on to something new."
• ⭐️ Mask Network to steward the next chapter of Lens, "consumer-grade execution, product design, and global distribution"; former Lens team to continue as technical advisors.
• ⭐️ US Crypto Market Structure Bill potentially delayed to late February or March; White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt criticized Coinbase $COIN for recently withdrawing support for the bill.
• US CFTC Chairman Mike Selig launches the “Future-Proof” initiative; aims to modernize the CFTC's approach to digital assets.
• Treasury Secretary Bessent confirms US Government will add seized Bitcoin $BTC to its digital asset reserve; President Trump's EO 14233 signed in March 2025 mandates forfeited BTC be held in the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
• Strategy $MSTR buys an additional 22,305 Bitcoin $BTC for ~$2.13B at ~$95,284 per BTC: now holds 709,715 BTC (~$63.5B) acquired for ~$53.92B at ~$75,979 per BTC.
• Bitmine $BMNR buys an additional 35,628 Ethereum $ETH (~$107M); now holds 4,203,036 ETH (~$12.6B) & $979M in cash.
• Polymarket banned in Portugal & Hungary citing, illegal gambling activity; also recently received enforcement actions from Nevada & Tennessee.
• TMTG $DJT to take "snapshot" of shareholders for Digital Token Initiative on February 2nd; eligible shareholders will receive new rewards token & incentives soon; to launch on Crypto[.]com's Cronos $CRO blockchain.
• Hong Kong to issue first batch of stablecoin licenses in Q1 2026; Hong Kong's stablecoin licensing regime requires fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers to meet strict standards on reserves, redemption, and risk management.
• Bitpanda to launch stock and ETF trading on January 29th; recently reported it seeks to go public on the Frankfurt, Germany stock market as early as H1 2026.
 Alpha
• ⭐️ Nado $INK launches "The Choice"; Private Alpha users can choose from points, a fee refund, or a Nado NFT (fully claimed); to launch Open Beta on January 30th.
• Cascade launches final pre-allocation event for Cascade’s Liquidity Strategy (CLS); $5M cap & open for ~24 hours; depositors will earn Cascade Points.
• Rainbow $RNBW to take snapshot of Rainbow Points holders on January 26th; users can earn points by trading spot, perps, and/or predictions; to launch airdrop on February 5th.
• Noble $NOBLE to migrate from Cosmos SDK-based blockchain to standalone EVM Layer 1; to unveil the next phase of Noble on March 18th; users were previously able to link an Ethereum address on Noble.
• Nansen launches Points Season 3; features new partners, new perks, & upcoming new permissionless rewards; also launches new AI trading feature; users can earn points by trading, staking, & subscribing.
• Etherscan launches new Points Overview Card powered by Checkpoint; users can check how many points an address has for several projects.
• ICYMI MegaETH $MEGA to launch global stress test on mainnet on January 22nd; users will be able to access 3 apps while the chain is under sustained load; to then launch public mainnet "in the days that follow."
 Airdrops
• ⭐️ Seeker $SKR (Solana Mobile) launches airdrop claim; Seeker users & developers are eligible; closes in ~90 days.
• ETHGas $GWEI launches airdrop claim; Beans (points) holders who also shared their Gas ID on X or quote-tweeted ETHGas’ Open Gas Initiative announcement are eligible.
• HeyElsa $ELSA launches airdrop claim; HeyElsa V1 & V2 points holders were eligible to register; registration closed on January 19th.
• Mezo $MEZO to launch airdrop claim soon; Mezo Mats (points) holders & Mezo Bitcoin borrowers were eligible to register.
• ICYMI Cap $CAP to launch "Stabledrop" soon; Frontier program participants (Caps points holders) will be eligible to claim cUSD, not CAP.
• ICYMI Fogo $FOGO launches airdrop claim; Fogo Flames (points) holders, Discord role holders, & more are eligible; to launch Fogo Flames Season 2 next week.
Finance News
• ⭐️ US President Trump cancels new tariffs on EU countries after forming framework for a future deal on Greenland with the Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte; Polymarket predicts a ~42% chance a deal is signed by March 31st.
• Stocks & Crypto recover while Gold $XAU & Silver $XAG fall after US President Trump announces cancellation of tariffs on the EU and potential future deal on Greenland.
• US Supreme Court delays ruling (again) on the legality of President Trump's tariffs; to potentially issue ruling in February; Polymarket predicts a ~30% chance the Supreme Court rules in favor of Trump's tariffs.
• US White House signs new Executive Order: “Stopping Wall Street from competing with Main Street homebuyers”; restricts institutional investors from buying single-family homes.
• Galaxy Digital $GLXY to reportedly launch $100M hedge fund in Q1 2026; to allocate 30% to crypto & 70% to financial services stocks.
• ICYMI NYSE $ICE to launch tokenized securities platform; to feature 24/7 trading of US equities & ETFs, instant settlement via tokenized capital, stablecoin-based funding, & more.
 Security and Exploits
• Caroline Ellison, former Alameda Research co-CEO, released from custody; Ellison served 440 days after pleading guilty & testifying against SBF in 2023; barred from executive roles in public firms and crypto exchanges for 10 years.
• Eye (@eyeonchains) posts investigation into the Trove $TROVE team; recently rug pulled after raising $11.4M in an ICO.
• Makina working to recover funds after being exploited for ~1,299 Ethereum $ETH (~$4M); development of a patch is currently in progress and has been submitted for external audit review.
• Crypto[.]com $CRO & Revolut implement new in-app call warning feature; users will see a warning banner if they open the app during an active phone call that isn't from the company.
• BlockSec Phalcon launches Phalcon Network, a "public intelligence network that tracks illicit funds across blockchains and alerts your platform BEFORE they're withdrawn"; registration is open.
 Token Unlocks
• LayerZero $ZRO / ~$44M / JAN 20th
• Kaito $KAITO / ~$4M / JAN 20th
• Plume $PLUME / ~$20M / JAN 21st
• River $RIVER / ~$68M / JAN 22nd
• SOON $SOON / ~$7M / JAN 23rd
• Monad $MON / ~$3M / JAN 24th
Sourced from Tokenomist
 Funding
• Space raises $14M in Public Sale from individual investors.
• Finst raises €8M in a Series A funding led by Endeit Capital.
• River $RIVER raises $8M in Strategic funding from Justin Sun.
• Cork Protocol raises $5.5M in Seed funding led by Road Capital & a16z Crypto CSX.
• Bitway raises $4.44M in Seed funding led by TRON $TRX.
• CheckSig raises €3.5M in Extended Series A funding from several investors.
• Immunefi $IMU raises $2.5M in Public Sale on Gate Launchpad.
• HyperLend raises $1.7M in funding from several investors.
• Shielded Labs receives 3,221 Zcash $ZEC (~$1.2M) donation from Tyler Winklevoss & Cameron Winklevoss.
• Fogo $FOGO raises an undisclosed amount in funding from GSR & Selini Capital.
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. . . |
Socket: First Chain Abstraction Protocol |
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