ETHGas Foundation Coin Issuance, Believe Emotional Transaction Mechanism "Train Wreck", What Key Points are Overseas Watching?

Publication Date: January 14, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has been simultaneously brewing across multiple dimensions. The mainstream discussion has focused on the trust controversy sparked by the "Reputation/Emotion Financialization" product and the risk spillover exposed by data platform mergers and the politician token rug pull event; in terms of ecosystem development, Solana has accelerated new application experiments, Ethereum's focus on "real-time execution" infrastructure has heated up, and the Perp DEX race continues to accelerate its internal competition on the mobile end and liquidity.

I. Mainstream Topics

1. Zama to Conduct Token Sale on CoinList

Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) project Zama has announced that it will launch a $ZAMA token public auction through CoinList and other channels, using a sealed-bid Dutch auction mechanism. The total project supply is 11 billion tokens, with a portion of the auction accounting for 8% (880 million tokens), and a floor FDV of $55 million.

The sale will be conducted in phases, with OG NFT holders enjoying a 2% priority subscription (January 15–20); the CoinList channel will open an 8% auction (January 21–24); the remaining 2% will enter a subsequent auction (January 27–February 2). The TGE is expected on February 2, with 100% unlock. Zama emphasizes that CoinList is just one of the bidding channels, and all winning bidders will transact at the same clearing price, not a separate sale with independent pricing. The project is positioned to focus on on-chain privacy, institutional-grade applications, and the RWA scenario.

The community's reaction is clearly polarized, with optimists acknowledging FHE's long-term potential and seeing the low FDV as offering a "cost-effective" window with the auction mechanism considered relatively fair; however, negative sentiment is more focused on short-term price performance, with the presale price being low leading to continued pressure in the pre-market (falling more than 13% at one point). Many people complain about "the price keeps dropping" and "wake up and it's still not x times," while the CoinList participation experience is repeatedly mentioned. The overall sentiment is cautious, with market focus on the potential selling pressure from the 100% unlock at TGE.

2. CoinGecko May Be Sold for $500 Million Valuation

According to an exclusive report by CoinDesk, crypto data platform CoinGecko is considering a sale at a valuation of around $500 million and has hired investment banks such as Moelis as advisors. As a long-standing veteran data gateway, CoinGecko's monthly traffic has dropped from 43.5 million in 2024 to 18.5 million in December 2025, with one core variable being AI tools replacing "data query-type demand." This potential sale is also seen as a continuation of the crypto M&A frenzy and a microcosm of the transformation pressure facing data platforms.

The community's overall sentiment is characterized as "surprise + positive feedback." Many believe the transformation from a price tracker to a "half billion business" is a strong business outcome, with some even jokingly saying, "Maybe I should buy one too." At the same time, there are concerns focused on the AI impact leading to a decrease in traffic and potential future integration, monopolization, or changes in product form. However, overall, this feels more like a discussion on a "graceful exit" and is seen as one of the signals of industry consolidation.

3. NYC Token Controversy Continues to Brew

Former NYC Mayor Eric Adams introduced the meme coin $NYC, claiming the token aims to combat anti-Semitism/anti-American sentiment while supporting blockchain education and youth innovation. The token quickly went live on Solana, reaching a market cap of 1–1.75 billion at launch. However, the team swiftly removed liquidity (allegedly a rug pull), leading to a price collapse and investors losing over $2.5 million. On-chain analysis also points to signs of LP manipulation and insider trading, illustrating a typical "politician token arbitrage" path.

Public opinion is overwhelmingly negative, widely regarded as "one of the worst rugs," with Adams depicted as a typical figure of "publicity run and exit." Some even bluntly stated, "FBI should arrest him." Many discussions compared it to Trump/Melania-related tokens, criticizing the regulatory gray area and rug-pulling risks brought about by "power tokenization." Although a small number of posts attempted to emphasize its "education theme," they were largely overshadowed by accusations of fraud and rug pull, with strong and highly consistent emotions: celebrity/politician coins carry extremely high risks, requiring vigilance.

4. Lighter Launches Mobile App, Sparking Discussion on Whale Dumping

On-chain perpetual/spot DEX Lighter officially launched its iOS and Android mobile apps, covering perpetual contracts, RWA, presales, and other functions. It also initiated a mobile trading competition awarding 100,000 LIT tokens, aiming to attract trading volume from CEX and enhance on-chain trading experience. Simultaneously, the community is monitoring potential sell pressure: an entity withdrew nearly 10 million LIT from LLP (approximately $26 million), some of which has been sold (around $4.7 million), accounting for about 4% of the circulating supply, causing a short-term price pressure spike.

The overall evaluation of the mobile app launch tends to be positive, with many seeing it as another validation of "perp DEX quietly rising," and the self-custody experience is considered a key selling point. However, discussions about whale dumping have brought significant FUD, such as the reassessment of "is rug pull worth it" and concerns about liquidity absorption capacity. Some believe the market has gradually absorbed the sell pressure and remain optimistic about its long-term potential (often compared to other perp DEX). Overall, the sentiment is neutral to positive, with the focus on balancing the advantages of self-custody, growth trajectory, and liquidity challenges.

II. Mainstream Ecosystem Updates

1. Solana

The Solana ecosystem social token platform Believe App has released the v2 beta iOS version, introducing the so-called "Human Sentiment Market" trading mechanism: users can perpetually bet on the rise and fall of personal reputation through two tokens, Believe and Doubt. The first market is associated with founder Ben Pasternak, with the current "Belief Score" at 62%. This market never settles and maintains a constant sum of Believe + Doubt equal to 1 USD. The project team has stated that early on, the focus will be on "manually deploying high-profile individuals," with the possibility of expanding to any X account in the future and introducing a fee-sharing mechanism. Overall, this version aims to streamline the transition from memecoins to prediction markets through "real-time sentiment tracking."

Community feedback has been notably negative and emotionally charged. The controversy is not centered on the product design itself but on Ben Pasternak's past actions and trust issues: many have mentioned his previous sell-off controversy in KLED-related projects, directly labeling him with "rug pull" and "clown show," urging others to avoid collaboration. While there are a few voices recognizing the innovative direction of "real-time emotion/reputation priceization," they are quickly drowned out by mockery and skepticism. The overall sentiment is one of outrage, with key issues focusing on fairness, sustainability, and credible execution.

2. Ethereum

The ETHGas Foundation has announced the launch of the governance token $GWEI to manage the "real-time Ethereum" infrastructure, aiming to alleviate delays and fluctuations caused by block space blind competition. The project hopes to achieve a low-friction experience, including predictable execution, gasless UX, and pre-confirmations, through a programmable block space market. TGE details will be announced soon, with the snapshot scheduled for January 19th, 00:00 UTC. The project has disclosed a $12 million investment from institutions like Polychain and claims to have a block space commitment in the order of 800 billion USD.

The overall discussion tends to be positive, with market sentiment closer to the "Ethereum infrastructure-level narrative" of excitement. Many users have started sharing related links and referral information, with some discussions directly pointing to potential airdrops and distribution expectations. There are also a few cautious voices regarding its tokenization path and execution risk. However, the mainstream view still tends to see this as a positive response to the issues of "transaction experience friction" and "execution certainty," extending the narrative of Ethereum's practicality.

3.Perp DEX

The Perp DEX race is heating up. The new platform Markets (@kinetiq_xyz) saw a strong first-day performance: approximately $1.6M in depth, 0.14bps spread, 0.07bps slippage. Compared to TradeXYZ (depth $1.8M, spread 0.39bps, slippage 0.19bps), Markets demonstrated a superior trading experience, with first-day trading volume exceeding $70 million. Meanwhile, the stablecoin USDH supply reached a record high of $76 million, believed to be linked to the increased demand from Markets' launch.

Furthermore, Cascade has initiated its final allocation (Jan 21 12PM ET, cap of $5 million, scaled proportionally), while Lighter has launched its iOS/Android mobile app and introduced a mobile trading competition with a pool of 100,000 LIT tokens (launching Jan 15). Another development is Kraken's Nado DEX achieving a new record of $1 billion in 24-hour trading volume.

The community is overall optimistic, with discussions focusing on "growth validation" and "rearrangement of the competitive landscape." Markets is hailed as having "flawless execution" and is seen as a direct challenger to TradeXYZ; USDH is viewed as an ecosystem beneficiary, further strengthening the PMF narrative; Cascade's allocation mechanism has sparked significant inquiries and propagation; Lighter's mobile app launch has brought positive feedback on "on-chain trading experience approaching CEX," but there have also been some FUD surrounding fund withdrawal/unlocking risks; Nado's $1 billion trading volume is seen as a manifestation of Kraken's endorsement impact. Overall, the perp DEX race is entering a phase of accelerated "product readiness + data uplift + traffic competition."

4.Miscellaneous

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) has launched the Markets lending platform, with backend support from Dolomite, covering functions such as deposits, lending, and position management, emphasizing transparency and high-performance liquidity. The project is positioned more towards institutional-level applications, focusing on scenarios such as RWA and stablecoins (e.g., USD1). Dolomite highlights its design capabilities in capital efficiency, virtual liquidity, modular architecture, and risk management, stating that it can serve as a key infrastructure for WLFI to bridge TradFi and DeFi.

Community discussion is overall positive, with many seeing it as a new milestone in the "DeFi institutionalization," especially with high expectations for Dolomite's positioning upgrade and potential TVL growth; there are also views that liken it to a competitor to Aave, sparking discussions around valuation and tokenomics. A few voices mentioned regulatory uncertainty but did not make it a main focus. The overall sentiment is optimistic, with a key consensus that institutional funds entering not only require a compliance narrative but also need a usable and stable lending infrastructure.