Weekly Preview | US Senate Agriculture Committee Releases Cryptocurrency Market Structure Bill; Aster Launches Second Season of Human-Machine Trading Competition

Breaking News Preview:

• LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens at 7 PM Beijing time on January 20th, representing 6.36% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $44.5 million.
• Plume (PLUME) will unlock approximately 1.37 billion tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on January 21, representing 39.75% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $22.3 million.
• The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee plans to release its cryptocurrency market structure bill on January 21.
• Binance announced that it will automatically cancel spot and margin orders placed before January 1, 2024, starting January 21.
• Solana Mobile announced that it will airdrop its native token SKR to Seeker mobile users and ecosystem developers on January 21.
• Aster will launch the second season of its AI trading competition on January 22nd, and will announce the list of participants on January 20th.
• River will unlock approximately 1.5 million tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on January 22nd, representing 4.32% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $36 million.

January 19

Exchange:

U.S. stock markets will be closed for the entire day on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 19) and will resume trading on January 20, 2026.

Binance Wallet plans to launch the SENT Pre-TGE Prime Sale on January 19th.

Binance Wallet plans to launch the fourth Pre-TGE Prime Sale on January 19th, listing SENT. The event will run from 12:00 to 14:00 (UTC) on January 19, 2026. Eligible users will need Binance Alpha Points to participate.

Project Updates:

MANTRA: Token code change and 1:4 token split to take place on January 19th.

MANTRA, a Layer 1 blockchain focused on RWA assets, announced on the X platform that its token upgrade timeline is set. On January 19, 2026, the token code will be changed from OM to MANTRA, and a 1:4 token split will occur. The target block is 11,888,888, and the split ratio is 1 OM → 4 MANTRA. OM holders on the MANTRA chain do not need to take any action.

Bitmine plans to invest $200 million in MrBeast's Beast Industries, with the transaction expected to close on January 19.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR) announced a $200 million investment in Beast Industries, with the transaction expected to close on January 19. Bitmine, backed by Cathie Wood, Founders Fund, Pantera, and others, is committed to using Ethereum as its core asset and driving a decentralized finance (DeFi) strategy. Beast Industries, founded by MrBeast, stated that this partnership will help it build one of the world's most influential entertainment brands and explore the integration of DeFi and financial services. Bitmine will hold its annual shareholder meeting in Las Vegas on January 15, 2026.

ETHGas launches governance token $GWEI, snapshot to be taken on January 19th.

ETHGas, the infrastructure protocol, announced the launch of a new governance token, $GWEI, to manage the programmable block space protocol, aiming to usher Ethereum into an era of "real-time execution, predictable costs, and massive gas-free operation." $GWEI holders can participate in governance, delegated voting, protocol proposals, and contingency decision-making. The snapshot is scheduled for January 19, 2026, at 00:00 UTC (January 19, 08:00 Beijing time), and the airdrop rules will be based on historical gas spending and community validation.

January 20

Project Updates:

Space raised over $20 million in its public sale; the allocation process will be announced on January 20.

The leveraged prediction market Space raised over $20 million in its public sale, and the allocation process will be announced on January 20th. At the request of the community, participants now have the option to change the wallet they will use to receive allocations and refunds within the next four days. Refunds will be processed on January 21st.

Token unlocking:

LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens at 7 PM Beijing time on January 20th, representing 6.36% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $44.5 million.

January 21

Policy and regulation:

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee plans to release its cryptocurrency market structure bill on January 21.

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee plans to release its cryptocurrency market structure bill on January 21 and hold a crucial hearing on the text of the bill on January 27. The hearing, originally scheduled for January 15 (postponed Monday), will begin at 3 p.m. pm. The bill amendment hearing is a key step in advancing the legislative process, allowing senators to debate amendments, vote on whether to include them in the base text, and then vote on whether to submit the entire bill to the full Senate for consideration. The Senate Banking Committee will hold its own amendment hearing on its version of the bill this Thursday. The Banking Committee's draft bill was released around midnight Monday, but senators are expected to propose amendments before the hearing.

Since the initial draft for discussion was released, the Agriculture Committee has not yet released the text of its draft bill. Outstanding issues include ethics provisions (addressing the connections between President Trump and his family with several crypto companies) and quorum rules (requiring bipartisan leadership of regulators such as the SEC and CFTC). Currently, both agencies have only Republican commissioners. Sources indicate that the Banking Committee's bill text also lacks provisions on ethics or quorum, so the current version is unlikely to gain bipartisan support.

Exchange:

Binance will delist USDT-margined perpetual contracts for BID, DMC, ZRC, and TANSSI on January 21.

Binance will delist the BIDUSDT, DMCUSDT, ZRCUSDT and TANSSIUSDT perpetual contract trading pairs at 17:00 on January 21. Positions will be automatically closed and settled before delisting.

Binance: Spot and margin orders placed before January 1, 2024 will be automatically cancelled on January 21.

According to Binance's official announcement, with the continuous changes in market prices, liquidity, and volatility, some long-dormant historical orders may be unexpectedly matched under extreme market conditions, resulting in transaction outcomes that do not entirely align with the user's actual trading intentions. Binance has taken note of this situation while continuously listening to community feedback and user suggestions. To help users mitigate the risk of such unexpected transactions and improve the overall stability and efficiency of the trading environment, Binance will implement unified management of these orders.

Based on the above considerations and incorporating community suggestions, Binance plans to process some long-pending spot and leveraged orders on January 21, 2026 at 15:00 (UTC+8). All spot and leveraged orders created before January 1, 2024 at 08:00 (UTC+8) and still pending at the time of processing will be automatically cancelled.

Project Updates:

The ZAMA token auction has been postponed to January 21-24.

Zama co-founder Rand Hindi posted on the X platform that the auction dates for ZAMA tokens have been changed. The new auction dates are January 21-24, and the token claim date is set for February 2.

It is reported that Zama will launch its token sale through CoinList and its own auction app, with a starting price of $55 million for FDV .

Solana Mobile will airdrop 2 billion SKR tokens to Seeker users on January 21st.

Solana Mobile announced that it will airdrop its native token SKR to Seeker mobile users and ecosystem developers on January 21, 2026 at 10:00 AM (UTC+8), with the initial airdrop representing 20% of the total supply (2 billion SKR). The first quarter of Seeker activity saw 265 dApps, 9 million transactions, and $2.6 billion in trading volume. Note that early Solana Saga mobile users are not included in this airdrop.

Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison will be released early on January 21.

Former Alameda co-CEO Caroline Ellison, who cooperated with the investigation into the FTX case, will have her two-year sentence served early on January 21, 2026, and has been transferred from federal prison to community supervision . She previously pleaded guilty to assisting in the prosecution of the SBF, was sentenced to a $11 billion fine and forfeiture, and agreed this month to be barred from serving as an executive of a publicly traded company or cryptocurrency exchange for 10 years.

Token unlocking:

Plume (PLUME) will unlock approximately 1.37 billion tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on January 21, representing 39.75% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $22.3 million.

January 22

Exchange:

Binance will cease supporting deposits and withdrawals of certain tokens on some networks on January 22.

Binance will cease supporting deposits and withdrawals of designated tokens from the following networks at 16:00 (UTC+8) on January 22, 2026. After 16:00 (UTC+8), deposits made using these designated tokens will not be credited to your account and may result in asset loss.

• Arbitrum (ARB) via Ethereum Network;
• 1Inch (1INCH) via BNB Smart Chain;
• Kite (KITE) via AVAX-C Chain;
• 0G (0G) via Ethereum Network;
• Turbo (TURBO) via Solana Network.

Project Updates:

Aster will launch the second season of its human-machine trading competition on January 22nd, and announce the list of contestants on January 20th.

Aster has announced the launch of the second season of its "Human vs. AI" trading competition. The new season will be based on the Aster Chain testnet, with the AI team consisting of complex agents from top labs, alongside human traders, forming a total of 100 participants, each allocated $10,000.

The prize pool for this tournament is reportedly as high as $150,000, with $30,000 going to the first-place winner. Winning teams will share a base prize pool of $50,000, which doubles to $100,000 if a human team ultimately wins. The application deadline is January 18th, the shortlist will be announced on January 20th, and the competition will be held from January 22nd to 29th.

Immunefi will launch its platform token IMU on January 22nd.

Immunefi, a cryptocurrency bug bounty platform, announced that its native token, IMU, will officially launch on January 22, 2026. Immunefi is committed to protecting on-chain security through bug bounties and other methods, driving the Web3 ecosystem towards trillion-dollar value.

Token unlocking:

River will unlock approximately 1.5 million tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on January 22, representing 4.32% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $36 million.

MBG By Multibank Group (MBG) will unlock approximately 24.73 million tokens at 8 PM Beijing time on January 22, representing 12.13% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $9.7 million.

January 23

Project Updates:

Meteora: MET airdrop claims will close on January 23.

Meteora issued a reminder on its X platform that the MET airdrop claim period will end on January 23. As part of the TGE program, 39% of the total MET token supply has already been distributed in a single round, and the airdrop claim channel will close in two weeks as planned. Unclaimed tokens will be added to the circulating community reserve for future rewards.

Token unlocking:

SOON will unlock approximately 21.88 million tokens at 4:30 PM Beijing time on January 23, representing 5.63% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $7.4 million.

Animecoin (ANIME) will unlock approximately 835 million tokens at 9 PM Beijing time on January 23, representing 13.84% of the circulating supply, worth approximately $6.3 million.

January 24

Token unlocking:

SoSoValue (SOSO) will unlock approximately 13.33 million tokens at 5 PM Beijing time on January 24th, representing 5.00% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $7.4 million.

January 25

Exchange:

Coinbase will be undergoing system maintenance on January 25th, with an expected downtime of 3 hours.

Coinbase International will undergo system maintenance on January 25, 2026 at approximately 01:00 (UTC+8), during which time services will be temporarily unavailable. The maintenance is expected to last for 3 hours. During this period, all trading and transfer functions on Coinbase International will be unavailable.

Token unlocking:

Humanity (H) will unlock approximately 105 million tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on January 25th, representing 4.57% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $19.3 million.

Plasma (XPL) will unlock approximately 88.89 million tokens at 8 PM Beijing time on January 25th, representing 4.33% of the circulating supply, with a value of approximately $12.4 million.

Specific time to be determined

Project Updates:

Interactive Brokers has launched 24/7 USDC account deposit service and plans to add RLUSD and PYUSD options next week.

Interactive Brokers announced that it now allows traders to deposit USDC into their accounts 24/7 using Circle's USDC, enabling 24/7 trading. This feature is powered by Zerohash, a B2B crypto and stablecoin infrastructure provider invested in by Interactive Brokers. Users can send USDC from their personal crypto wallets to a secure wallet generated by Zerohash on the Ethereum, Solana, or Base networks, after which the tokens are automatically converted to USD and deposited into their brokerage account. A conversion fee of 0.30% (minimum $1) will be charged on each deposit. Interactive Brokers plans to add more stablecoin options as early as next week, including Ripple's RLUSD and PayPal's PYUSD.