Crypto analysts are predicting significant financial gains for Solana, which is poised to see greater adoption from new retail investors, fueled in part by expectations for a cash exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States.
Investment in the artificial intelligence industry is also revitalizing as interest in self-driving AI agents grows. Fetch.ai has launched a $10 million accelerator to support the development of AI agents and quantum computing.
Solana Is Poised to Benefit from U.S. ETF and Retail Adoption — Analyst
Solana is expected to achieve significant growth in 2025, driven by increased interest from individual investors and expectations for the U.S.-based Solana Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).
Solana (SOL) fell below the psychological key point of $200 on January 9 after posting a weekly decline of more than 7%, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro data.
SOL/USD, 1-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph
Despite the current correction, Solana is poised to deliver significant financial returns over the year, which will be primarily driven by profit expectations from retail investors, Nicolai Søndergaard, research analyst at Nansen, told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview at the Emergence Praha 2024 event. said to
“(Solana’s attractiveness) is a function of expected returns. Solana looks cheaper. When you look at the units, you just think this is cheaper to buy,” said Søndergaard.
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Fetch.ai launches $10 million accelerator for AI agent startups
Fetch.ai, a cryptocurrency artificial intelligence company built on Cosmos, announced a $10 million accelerator to support startups developing solutions focused on AI agents, quantum computing, and high-performance technologies.
Operating through Fetch.ai’s Innovation Lab, the accelerator aims to connect research with real-world applications. According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph, the lab, which has hubs in San Francisco, London, and India, will provide funding, mentorship, and access to Fetch.ai’s agent-based technology to help startups scale globally. It will.
“Agents will not only redefine how software is built, but will also serve as the execution layer for modern technologies,” Humayun Sheikh, CEO of Fetch.ai and president of the ASI Alliance, told Cointelegraph.
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MiCA could attract more cryptocurrency investments despite over-regulation concerns
Europe’s Regulated Marketplace for Cryptocurrency Assets (MiCA) has been hailed as a significant step forward for the cryptocurrency industry, despite concerns about possible over-regulation during its initial launch.
MiCA is the world’s first comprehensive cryptocurrency regulatory framework, with full implementation for cryptocurrency service providers on December 30, 2024.
Although concerns about regulatory overreach persist, this regulation is expected to have a positive impact on the cryptocurrency industry in the long term. According to Dmitrij Radin, founder of Zekret and chief technology officer of Fideum, an institutional-focused regulatory and blockchain infrastructure company.
“In the long term, (MiCA) is absolutely positive. Every regulation helps us mature the market. This will drive more funds and more users,” Radin told Cointelegraph in an interview with Emergence Praha.
Nonetheless, the regulations seek to identify “weaknesses in controls” in the cryptocurrency space, which could mean greater scrutiny of retail investors and end users of cryptocurrency platforms, Radin said.
Interview with Fideum’s Dmitrij Radin and Cointelegraph’s Zoltan Vardai. source: youtube
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Insider wallet net profit suspected of $20 million due to Solana Pokai memecoin launch
At least 15 blockchain wallets suspected of insider trading have turned an initial investment of $14,600 into more than $20 million, raising concerns about transparency and fairness in the cryptocurrency market.
15 insider wallets generated more than $20 million in revenue from Focai.fun (FOCAI), a memecoin recently launched on Solana (SOL)’s memecoin launchpad Pump.fun.
The suspected insider earned more than 136,000 times his initial investment of $14,600, purchasing more than 60.5% of the total token supply, according to on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain. “They then sold all of the $Focai for 94,175 $SOL ($20.5M), making a profit of 94,108 $SOL ($20.48M).”
FOCAI internal wallet. Source: Lookonchain
The concentration of such a large amount of tokens in a small number of wallets has drawn criticism from blockchain analysts. This situation highlights a potential risk to a core principle of cryptocurrency: decentralization.
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Ripple has partnered with Chainlink to power its RLUSD stablecoin in the DeFi market.
Ripple, a blockchain-based payment protocol, has partnered with Chainlink, a decentralized oracle network, to increase adoption and usability of the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
Announced on January 7, the collaboration will provide price feeds for RLUSD on Ethereum and XRP Ledger, aiming to support cost-effective trading and DeFi use cases for enterprise-grade stablecoins.
RLUSD is pegged to the US dollar and will receive tamper-evident and accurate data from Chainlink via decentralized nodes. Integrations are designed to reduce the risk of manipulation or downtime.
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DeFi Market Overview
Most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were in the red this week, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.
Among the top 100, the THORChain (RUNE) token had the biggest decline this week, down over 29%, followed by the Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) token, down over 22% on the weekly chart.
Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlama
Thank you for reading our roundup of the most influential DeFi developments this week. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education about this dynamically evolving space.