LWID: Polaris Launching Stablecoin, Bitwise Joins as Curator on Morpho, Metamask LINEA Airdrop, and more...
News🗞️
Tether launched USAT, a federally regulated, dollar-backed stablecoin now available to U.S. users under the GENIUS Act, marking its first formal entry into the U.S. market and directly competing with Circle’s USDC in a rapidly growing stablecoin sector.
The Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate unchanged at 3.5%–3.75%, citing solid economic growth, low job gains, and still-elevated inflation.
Fidelity plans to launch a U.S. dollar stablecoin(FIDD) next month through its newly approved national trust bank.
Ethereum ERC-8004 introduces new on-chain registries for AI agent identity, reputation, and validation, is ready for mainnet and L2 deployment, allowing developers to register AI agents and enable trust-based, agent-to-agent interactions directly on Ethereum.
VanEck launched the Avalanche spot ETF VAVX on Nasdaq, enabling regulated AVAX exposure, targeting to stake 70% of holdings, with rewards reflected in NAV.
Grayscale filed with the SEC to launch a spot BNB ETF that would hold BNB directly and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker GBNB if approved, with VanEck also pursuing a separate spot BNB ETF filing.
Abu Dhabi’s Central Bank - Universal Digital launched USDU, the first registered US dollar-backed stablecoin, giving regulated banks, brokers, and venues a compliant USD settlement token under the country’s payment-token rules.
Moonbirds, an NFT project, opened the $BIRB token claim and Nesting 2.0, with allocations for SBT NFT holders, top Kato contributors, and Moonbirds Mythics and Oddities, while temporarily pausing the site due to heavy traffic.
DeFi📈
YO Protocol announced its upcoming YO token as it concluded its points program for minting yield-bearing strategies like yoUSD, yoETH, and yoBTC vaults. Airdrop claim will start at Febuary 5.
Drops, an airdrop checker bot, enables users to view their unclaimed airdrops directly on Etherscan by pasting a wallet address and checking the Cards tab.
MegaETH public mainnet will go live on February 9, 2026.
GMX will deploy on MegaETH in early February following MegaETH’s mainnet launch, bringing BTC, ETH, and SOL perps with up to 100x leverage and sub-second execution.
SectorOne launched as the first native DEX on MegaETH, enabling users to provide liquidity with concentrated ranges, programmable fees, and optional DLMM vaults.
Citrea, a BTC Fi protocol, launches its mainnet along with its campaign, opening access to a programmable Bitcoin application layer where users can bridge BTC, trade, and lend through supported apps, with cBTC and ctUSD, a Bitcoin-backed stablecoin now live, and additional integrations rolling out in the coming weeks.
Pendle launched sPENDLE, replacing vePENDLE with a liquid staking token featuring a 14-day withdrawal period, with protocol revenue used for PENDLE buybacks and distributed to sPENDLE holders, offering 17% APR.
Vale, a yield aggregator, launches its on-chain yield interface on Base, offering users a simplified way to access and route across yield sources.
Kraken launched DeFi Earn, allowing users to earn up to 8% APY by depositing assets into curated on-chain vaults directly within the Kraken app, with rewards sourced from lending activity across protocols like Aave and Morpho.
Bitwise has joined as a curator on Morpho, with the asset manager launching its first non-custodial vault strategy on Morpho targeting around 6% APY through overcollateralized lending pools.
MetaMask took a snapshot for the LINEA rewards distribution, with eligibility based on wallet usage. Claim date and distribution process to be shared in the coming days.
Uniswap is launching Continuous Clearing Auctions on its frontend, aiming to improve token launches by reducing bot interference and enabling more orderly price discovery during initial trading.
HyperLend allocated an additional 150 million points to users who remained active after the initial 300 million point distribution, with extra point boosts for participants staking with the Hypurr validator
Superform, a yield aggregator, launched a migration campaign moving v1 positions to v2 SuperVaults, with v1 no longer earning rewards and migrated users are eligible for higher $UP incentives starting Epoch 2 and free smart account creation.
SuperForm introduced SuperWETH on Ethereum, offering a simple vault deposit with a target 6% APY for ETH holders.
Perps DEX📰
N1, a L1 built for high-performance on-chain trading, is launching mainnet on February 3, debuting with 01.xyz Exchange—an institutional-grade perpetuals platform running on dedicated compute to ensure stable execution under peak load.
Hotstuff, a perps DEX backed by Delphi Ventures and Dialectic, opened deposits for its Liquidity Vault (HLV), allowing users to deposit funds with an invite code.
Tread, a perps DEX aggregator, launches Points Campaigns, enabling limited-time 5x TREAD point boosts for selected exchanges or tickers, incentivizing liquidity and trading activity ahead of the first launch in the coming days.
Stablecoins/RWA🪙
Polaris, a new on-chain stablecoin system built around pUSD, pETH, and POLAR, outlines a design that targets yield generated from volatility rather than RWAs or off-chain dependencies, with more technical details and next steps to be disclosed in the coming weeks.
USDAI plans to launch its CHIP governance token in Q1 2026, with an ICO and airdrop expected by April, following its 2025 points program that rewarded users for minting USDai and sUSDai ahead of the token launch.
Theo, an RWA protocol, launched thGOLD, a yield-bearing tokenized gold product that gives users exposure to spot gold prices while earning yield from secured lending backed by physical bullion.
River integrated OKX DEX, allowing users to swap directly within the River interface to access DEX liquidity, compare routes, and execute trades without leaving the app.
RAAC, a gold-backed stablecoin protocol, announced a strategic partnership with Frax to build deeper Treasury bill– and RWA-backed stablecoin liquidity, centered on a new pmUSD/frxUSD pool on Curve offering up to 35% APR.
Raises
Doppler, a token launcher protocol founded by ex-Uniswap contributor Austin Adams, raised a $9 million seed round led by Pantera Capital to build infrastructure for token launches.
Andre Cronje’s(Sonic Labs Founder) Flying Tulip, an all-in-one DEX combining spot, perps, and lending, raised an additional $25.5M in a private token round at a $1B FDV, bringing total institutional funding to $225.5M, alongside $50M raised via Impossible Finance and over $1.3B in public-sale commitments.
Issues ⚠️
Matcha Meta, a swap and bridge aggregator, disclosed a breach on its Swap feature, exposing users who did not use 0x one-time approvals, with about $16.8 million drained so far after funds were swapped on Base and bridged to Ethereum; affected users should immediately revoke approvals granted to individual aggregators.
Levana Perps DEX said the Levana Foundation is winding down and the protocol is moving into maintenance mode on Osmosis, with LPs advised to begin withdrawals (xLP unbonding waived) and traders warned that opening new positions will soon be disabled.
Aperture Finance, a liquidity pool manager protocol, reported an exploit affecting its V3/V4 contracts, halted core frontend features, and urged users to immediately revoke approvals for the affected Ethereum contract address to secure their wallets.
Makina said it has recovered and redistributed most funds lost in the January 20 Curve DUSD/USDC pool exploit, returning over 1,077 ETH and additional USDC to affected LPs, with remaining losses to be compensated through ongoing recoveries and future protocol revenues via a dedicated recovery mechanism.
Regulations🗞️
The White House to convene crypto and banking executives to discuss market-structure legislation, indicating potential regulatory developments in the digital asset ecosystem.
Wall Street firms challenge proposed exemptions for tokenized securities during the SEC meeting, signaling potential resistance to broader cryptocurrency financial integration.
Russia plans to implement comprehensive crypto regulation in July, potentially opening Bitcoin trading for both retail and institutional investors by mid-2027.
The UK is finalizing a crypto rule framework, with the FCA(Financial Conduct Authority) set to conclude the process by March and implement the rules by 2027, giving crypto firms regulatory clarity as U.S. legislation remains stalled.
US Senate Republicans advanced a crypto market structure bill in committee, giving the CFTC oversight of digital commodity trading, but Democrats opposed it over Trump’s crypto ties, DeFi crime concerns, and lack of Democratic representation at the regulator, leaving the bill’s path forward uncertain.
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