In Uncommonlab Weekly Alpha, we curate and share emerging crypto alpha opportunities every week.

• Binance has launched TSLA futures contracts that track the price of Tesla shares.

• The product is structured under a secure framework regulated by Abu Dhabi’s ADGM FSRA, allowing traders to use USDT with leverage of up to 5x.

• Unlike the Nasdaq, which trades only during limited market hours, TSLAUSDT is available for trading 24/7, including weekends and public holidays.

• This marks the first tokenized stock supported on Binance, signaling the exchange’s strong intention to actively expand into the TradFi market.

Starting with TSLA, Binance appears set to roll out full-scale TradFi stock futures trading. This move represents an evolution from a pure crypto exchange into a comprehensive financial platform that also supports stock trading. Compared to traditional equity markets, Binance offers key advantages such as higher leverage and round-the-clock trading, further blurring the line between TradFi and crypto.

Following TSLA, it is widely expected that top Nasdaq market-cap stocks such as AAPL, NVDA, and MSFT will also be supported. For existing Binance users, this means they can trade major US stocks easily using USDT without opening a foreign brokerage account, which is highly convenient.

However, some argue that at a time when crypto market trading volumes are already declining, adding stock trading could further reduce participation in crypto assets. This, they warn, may ultimately contribute to a contraction of the crypto market itself.

• According to an investigation released on January 25, 2026, by ZachXBT, an on-chain investigator known for exposing scams through blockchain data, John Daghita allegedly stole over $40 million in assets from wallets seized by the U.S. government.

• The stolen funds are believed to originate from U.S. government–seized assets related to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

• The incident came to light through a Telegram game called “Band-For-Band,” where participants compete to show who holds more money. During this game, John publicly shared screenshots of his wallet balances and demonstrated the real-time movement of millions of dollars, drawing attention to his funds.

• Using the wallet addresses revealed during this event, ZachXBT traced the on-chain flows and discovered evidence suggesting that the funds were stolen directly from U.S. government–controlled wallets.

• Further raising suspicion, John’s father, Dean Daghita, is the CEO of CMDSS, a company contracted by the U.S. Marshals Service under the Department of Justice to manage seized cryptocurrencies. Given this relationship, the case is widely suspected to involve embezzlement.

The U.S. government typically relies on third-party contractors to store, manage, and liquidate seized crypto assets derived from criminal activity. CMDSS, a Virginia-based IT government contractor led by John’s father, is one such firm. While details remain unclear, it appears that John may have obtained access to government-managed wallets controlled by CMDSS and transferred assets at will.

By openly showcasing wallet balances and transactions on Telegram, John effectively provided direct evidence himself, which ZachXBT later compiled and exposed using on-chain data—sparking significant controversy.

The U.S. government has previously stated that it does not intend to sell all seized Bitcoin and may hold portions long term. However, if weaknesses in asset custody allow individuals to arbitrarily transfer or sell seized Bitcoin, this could escalate into a major systemic issue with serious implications for trust and asset security.

• Space is a Solana-based leveraged prediction market platform.

• In January, Space conducted its own token sale, aiming to raise $2.5 million at a $69 million FDV. Many participants assumed that any excess contributions would be refunded, but instead, total deposits exceeded $20 million, and the team used a “soft cap” justification to force the purchase of $14 million worth of tokens.

• This behavior closely resembled the Trove token sale, which significantly damaged community trust. Further worsening sentiment, it was revealed that members of the Space founding team had previously been involved in the UFO Gaming project, whose token had collapsed by over 90%, pushing public opinion to an all-time low.

• As the controversy grew out of control, the Space team announced a partial refund plan. Under this plan, the top 5% of investors and the remaining participants will receive a 50% refund of their invested capital, with the stated goal of increasing the relative allocation for smaller participants.

• Refund procedures are scheduled to begin on January 27 via the official website. However, given that full refunds are not being offered and the project has already suffered severe reputational damage, proceeding with the TGE (Token Generation Event) is likely to result in very poor outcomes.

Space is positioned as a Solana-based leveraged prediction market platform, yet it is not currently usable, having conducted a token sale before releasing a working product. The token sale process itself reflected extremely poor execution. The team initially stated it would raise only $2.5 million, but when deposits exceeded $20 million, they chose to force a $14 million allocation instead of issuing refunds, citing a soft cap.

As narratives spread comparing Space to Trove, a token sale widely viewed as borderline rug-like, backlash intensified. Once the situation became unmanageable, the Space team ultimately announced a partial refund.

Had the team adhered to its original plan and raised only $2.5 million, the token sale likely would have concluded smoothly and generated strong expectations. Instead, the issue appears to stem from excessive greed around fundraising, raising serious concerns that the project may continue to demonstrate poor judgment and negative behavior going forward.

• Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), are currently facing public criticism on X from across the crypto community.

• In Binance’s case, one of the main accusations is its predatory listing structure, where projects are reportedly required to pay around 8% of their token supply as a listing fee. In addition, more than 80% of projects listed through Binance Alpha have declined in price, leading to claims that these listings function primarily as liquidity exit venues for token sales rather than long-term growth platforms.

• Further controversy surrounds a large-scale altcoin liquidation event on October 10, where some allege that the incident originated from a collapse in Binance’s internal pricing system. There are also rumors that certain VIP clients were warned in advance, intensifying suspicions of unfair information asymmetry.

• CZ himself has also drawn criticism. His post stating that “Buy and Hold beats most trading strategies” was interpreted by many as encouraging people to hold all coins indiscriminately, which angered users amid ongoing market declines. Additionally, his frequent promotion of Aster has fueled speculation that Binance is attempting to undermine competitors such as Hyperliquid and capture their market share.

• During the collapse of FTX, CZ publicly announced the sale of $500 million worth of FTT and simultaneously signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire FTX. This move allegedly discouraged other potential rescuers from stepping in. Binance ultimately withdrew from the deal, leaving FTX beyond recovery—leading some to claim that CZ effectively eliminated his largest competitor.

Recently, posts critical of Binance and CZ have been circulating widely within the crypto community. Reports that Binance demands close to 8% of token supply for listings appear credible and are widely viewed as excessively expensive, making criticism unavoidable.

While not all allegations against CZ can be confirmed as factual, many find his actions questionable in context. With crypto prices continuing to fall, his “Buy and Hold” messaging has further intensified backlash. The criticism is not limited to retail users—Star, the CEO of OKX, also posted remarks on X that appeared to indirectly criticize Binance, drawing even more attention.

In response, CZ has claimed that the sudden surge of similarly worded posts criticizing both him and Binance represents a coordinated, manipulated attack. However, the reality is that many long-time, respected participants in the crypto space also agree with a significant portion of these criticisms, lending weight to the ongoing debate.

• Xangle is a Korea-based company that provides Web3 and crypto-related data, research, and information services.

• The company recently secured a $8 million strategic investment from Hanwha Group’s financial affiliates.

• The investment was reportedly personally led by Kim Dong-won, CEO of Hanwha Life, and alongside the funding announcement, Xangle began a strategic collaboration with Hanwha Investment & Securities, supplying them with data APIs.

• As traditional financial institutions—such as banks and securities firms—increasingly recognize the importance of Web3 data and infrastructure capabilities, they are making strategic investments in companies like Xangle. These institutions also appear to believe such partnerships will support the future launch of blockchain-based services.

Xangle operates a comprehensive platform that aggregates and organizes key disclosures from crypto projects, participates in blockchain validator operations, provides APIs, and publishes research, delivering end-to-end Web3 data and infrastructure services.

The recent $8M investment from Hanwha’s financial affiliates suggests that Xangle can immediately meet the Web3 data and infrastructure needs of traditional financial institutions. As digital assets continue to enter the regulated financial system—starting with Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs—even conventional banks are making strategic investments to adopt relevant technologies and align with this institutionalization trend.

• Hashed Open Finance has unveiled Maroo, a Korean won–based Layer 1 blockchain.

• Maroo is designed with a dual-track system that simultaneously satisfies the openness of public blockchains and regulatory requirements, aiming to build an ecosystem around stablecoins, RWAs, and STOs.

• Unlike most existing blockchains—such as Ethereum or Solana—where gas fees are paid in a native token, Maroo is architected so that a KRW-pegged stablecoin can be used directly to pay transaction fees.

• The chain was developed with Korea’s upcoming Digital Asset Basic Act, expected in Q1 2026, in mind, and positions itself as foundational infrastructure for the digital transformation of Korea’s financial ecosystem.

Maroo is a KRW-based Layer 1 blockchain designed for regulatory compliance. It has been developed in anticipation of the Digital Asset Basic Act scheduled for Q1 2026, and a litepaper has already been released. Some of its technology was partially validated in 2025 through the Busan Digital Asset Exchange and the Bidamooni project, though additional time will be required before a fully functional mainnet is launched.

Because gas fees are paid using a KRW stablecoin, Maroo will not have a separate governance token, setting it apart from most existing mainnets. Given that the chain is structurally designed for financial infrastructure use cases, if real demand materializes, Maroo could see meaningful adoption sooner than expected.

• The River token has surged more than 30x in just one month, currently maintaining a market cap of $1.47B and an FDV of $7.5B.

• River raised $12M in funding from prominent backers including Tron Foundation, Maelstrom, Justin Sun, and Spartan Group. Leveraging this support, River plans to integrate its stablecoin, satUSD, into the Tron ecosystem.

• Users can earn River Points by staking tokens such as wBNB or USD1, posting River-related content on social media, and participating in a referral system. These points can be locked and later converted into River tokens.

• However, when converting points into tokens, users must wait a minimum of three months. Expecting the token price to fall during this period, many traders attempted to hedge by opening short positions when River was trading around $4. Instead, these positions were aggressively liquidated, driving the price up to $75.

River’s price has climbed relentlessly from $2 to $75 within a single month, attracting intense market attention. While the project’s $12M raise from Maelstrom (Arthur Hayes’ firm) and Justin Sun’s Tron Foundation lends credibility, the speed and scale of the rally appear highly abnormal.

According to an investigation shared on X by WazzCrypto, a specific group allegedly accumulated nearly 2 million River tokens—close to half of the circulating supply—by withdrawing tokens across 2,418 wallets and Bitget when the price was around $4. With liquidity intentionally kept thin, this group was able to force large-scale short liquidations, generating significant profits.

Another contributing factor appears to be the forced liquidation of hedge shorts placed by users converting River Points into tokens. As these users sought guaranteed returns, they opened short positions, which were then liquidated. This exploited the futures market mechanics, where short liquidations mechanically push prices higher.

It is likely that both strategies were applied simultaneously, resulting in the current price levels. Given that token unlocks have been deliberately delayed and circulating supply is tightly controlled, the situation appears highly engineered. Under these conditions, avoiding trading the River token altogether may be the most prudent approach.

• Citrea is a Bitcoin-native zkRollup, providing an EVM-compatible execution environment while using Bitcoin as the settlement and data availability layer.

• The project has raised $16M in funding from prominent VCs including Founders Fund and Galaxy, and officially launched its mainnet on January 27, 2026.

• Alongside the mainnet launch, Citrea announced integrations with Morpho and Edge Capital’s UlltraYield to enable BTC-collateralized lending, as well as the introduction of ctUSD, a stablecoin issued by MoonPay and powered by M0 infrastructure.

• Assets can now be bridged to the Citrea mainnet. Based on net asset inflows, liquidity provision, and token trading activity on DEXs, Citrea is expected to run incentive campaigns, making it highly likely that participation could lead to a future token airdrop.

Citrea is a Bitcoin Layer 2 project backed by $16M from Founders Fund, Galaxy, and others. With the recent mainnet launch, users can already bridge assets to the network, and related campaigns aimed at early adopters are expected to follow—potentially tied to token airdrops.

Given the presence of ctUSD, a stablecoin designed to comply with the upcoming GENIUS Act guidelines, users may feel more comfortable bridging assets to the Citrea mainnet and participating in early farming opportunities.

• USAT is a U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoin that Tether is planning to launch in compliance with U.S. regulatory requirements.

• While Tether aims to compete directly with USDC, its operations originally began in Hong Kong, and its corporate structure remains geographically distributed, making it difficult to fully align USDT with U.S. regulatory standards. As a result, Tether has faced limitations in offering services within the U.S. market.

• To address these challenges, Tether plans to issue USAT in compliance with the GENIUS Act, the U.S. regulatory framework for stablecoins, with issuance facilitated through Anchorage Digital Bank.

• Under this approach, Tether appears to be pursuing a dual-strategy: maintaining its global dominance with USDT while using USAT as the primary stablecoin for the U.S. market.

The reason Tether is introducing USAT alongside USDT is fundamentally tied to regulatory compliance in the United States. USDT is supported by virtually every exchange and remains the most widely used stablecoin globally. However, unlike USDC, Tether is not U.S.-based, and its origins in Hong Kong have created regulatory uncertainty and restrictions within the U.S..

By launching USAT, a federally regulated stablecoin, Tether aims to secure compliant access to the U.S. market while preserving USDT’s established position in the global crypto ecosystem.

• Opinion, a prediction market platform that has been rapidly increasing its market share, has announced an earlier-than-expected TGE for its native token, OPN.

• To date, Opinion has been distributing 100,000 points per week, allocated based on trading volume, limit order usage, and holding duration.

• Ahead of the TGE, the platform is currently accepting wallet registrations, allowing users to split their OPN token allocation across up to five wallets.

• While it is not yet confirmed whether a snapshot will be taken, bonus points are being offered. Users can earn points efficiently by selecting near-expiry markets and holding equal amounts of YES and NO positions, a strategy that allows participants to accumulate points with minimal or no directional loss.

Following Kalshi and Polymarket, Opinion has risen to third place in prediction market trading volume. Officially launched in October 2025, Opinion is a BNB Chain–based prediction market platform. After receiving investment from YZi Labs, it has gained significant attention—often described as the prediction market counterpart to ASTER in the PerpDEX space.

Expectations of strong returns from the OPN token have driven substantial trading activity on the platform, with users receiving weekly point distributions proportional to their activity. Opinion has now confirmed its token launch and is allowing users to register up to five wallets to receive OPN allocations.

While the exact value of allocations for long-term participants remains uncertain, Opinion’s position as the third-largest prediction market platform suggests the token could deliver solid performance. The project is currently valued at an estimated FDV between $800M and $1.3B, though a clearer picture will emerge once detailed tokenomics—including supply and circulating allocation—are released.

Given that Opinion is moving to TGE faster than most competitors in the prediction market space, there is optimism that it may outperform expectations upon launch.

• This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Cryptocurrency and digital asset investments involve significant risk, and investors should conduct their own due diligence and make decisions carefully.

• All research comments reflect the views of an Uncommonlab research intern and do not represent financial or legal advice, nor do they recommend the purchase or sale of any specific asset.

In Uncommonlab Weekly Alpha, we curate and share emerging crypto alpha opportunities every week.

• Binance has launched TSLA futures contracts that track the price of Tesla shares.

• The product is structured under a secure framework regulated by Abu Dhabi’s ADGM FSRA, allowing traders to use USDT with leverage of up to 5x.

• Unlike the Nasdaq, which trades only during limited market hours, TSLAUSDT is available for trading 24/7, including weekends and public holidays.

• This marks the first tokenized stock supported on Binance, signaling the exchange’s strong intention to actively expand into the TradFi market.

Starting with TSLA, Binance appears set to roll out full-scale TradFi stock futures trading. This move represents an evolution from a pure crypto exchange into a comprehensive financial platform that also supports stock trading. Compared to traditional equity markets, Binance offers key advantages such as higher leverage and round-the-clock trading, further blurring the line between TradFi and crypto.

Following TSLA, it is widely expected that top Nasdaq market-cap stocks such as AAPL, NVDA, and MSFT will also be supported. For existing Binance users, this means they can trade major US stocks easily using USDT without opening a foreign brokerage account, which is highly convenient.

However, some argue that at a time when crypto market trading volumes are already declining, adding stock trading could further reduce participation in crypto assets. This, they warn, may ultimately contribute to a contraction of the crypto market itself.

• According to an investigation released on January 25, 2026, by ZachXBT, an on-chain investigator known for exposing scams through blockchain data, John Daghita allegedly stole over $40 million in assets from wallets seized by the U.S. government.

• The stolen funds are believed to originate from U.S. government–seized assets related to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

• The incident came to light through a Telegram game called “Band-For-Band,” where participants compete to show who holds more money. During this game, John publicly shared screenshots of his wallet balances and demonstrated the real-time movement of millions of dollars, drawing attention to his funds.

• Using the wallet addresses revealed during this event, ZachXBT traced the on-chain flows and discovered evidence suggesting that the funds were stolen directly from U.S. government–controlled wallets.

• Further raising suspicion, John’s father, Dean Daghita, is the CEO of CMDSS, a company contracted by the U.S. Marshals Service under the Department of Justice to manage seized cryptocurrencies. Given this relationship, the case is widely suspected to involve embezzlement.

The U.S. government typically relies on third-party contractors to store, manage, and liquidate seized crypto assets derived from criminal activity. CMDSS, a Virginia-based IT government contractor led by John’s father, is one such firm. While details remain unclear, it appears that John may have obtained access to government-managed wallets controlled by CMDSS and transferred assets at will.

By openly showcasing wallet balances and transactions on Telegram, John effectively provided direct evidence himself, which ZachXBT later compiled and exposed using on-chain data—sparking significant controversy.

The U.S. government has previously stated that it does not intend to sell all seized Bitcoin and may hold portions long term. However, if weaknesses in asset custody allow individuals to arbitrarily transfer or sell seized Bitcoin, this could escalate into a major systemic issue with serious implications for trust and asset security.

• Space is a Solana-based leveraged prediction market platform.

• In January, Space conducted its own token sale, aiming to raise $2.5 million at a $69 million FDV. Many participants assumed that any excess contributions would be refunded, but instead, total deposits exceeded $20 million, and the team used a “soft cap” justification to force the purchase of $14 million worth of tokens.

• This behavior closely resembled the Trove token sale, which significantly damaged community trust. Further worsening sentiment, it was revealed that members of the Space founding team had previously been involved in the UFO Gaming project, whose token had collapsed by over 90%, pushing public opinion to an all-time low.

• As the controversy grew out of control, the Space team announced a partial refund plan. Under this plan, the top 5% of investors and the remaining participants will receive a 50% refund of their invested capital, with the stated goal of increasing the relative allocation for smaller participants.

• Refund procedures are scheduled to begin on January 27 via the official website. However, given that full refunds are not being offered and the project has already suffered severe reputational damage, proceeding with the TGE (Token Generation Event) is likely to result in very poor outcomes.

Space is positioned as a Solana-based leveraged prediction market platform, yet it is not currently usable, having conducted a token sale before releasing a working product. The token sale process itself reflected extremely poor execution. The team initially stated it would raise only $2.5 million, but when deposits exceeded $20 million, they chose to force a $14 million allocation instead of issuing refunds, citing a soft cap.

As narratives spread comparing Space to Trove, a token sale widely viewed as borderline rug-like, backlash intensified. Once the situation became unmanageable, the Space team ultimately announced a partial refund.

Had the team adhered to its original plan and raised only $2.5 million, the token sale likely would have concluded smoothly and generated strong expectations. Instead, the issue appears to stem from excessive greed around fundraising, raising serious concerns that the project may continue to demonstrate poor judgment and negative behavior going forward.

• Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), are currently facing public criticism on X from across the crypto community.

• In Binance’s case, one of the main accusations is its predatory listing structure, where projects are reportedly required to pay around 8% of their token supply as a listing fee. In addition, more than 80% of projects listed through Binance Alpha have declined in price, leading to claims that these listings function primarily as liquidity exit venues for token sales rather than long-term growth platforms.

• Further controversy surrounds a large-scale altcoin liquidation event on October 10, where some allege that the incident originated from a collapse in Binance’s internal pricing system. There are also rumors that certain VIP clients were warned in advance, intensifying suspicions of unfair information asymmetry.

• CZ himself has also drawn criticism. His post stating that “Buy and Hold beats most trading strategies” was interpreted by many as encouraging people to hold all coins indiscriminately, which angered users amid ongoing market declines. Additionally, his frequent promotion of Aster has fueled speculation that Binance is attempting to undermine competitors such as Hyperliquid and capture their market share.

• During the collapse of FTX, CZ publicly announced the sale of $500 million worth of FTT and simultaneously signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire FTX. This move allegedly discouraged other potential rescuers from stepping in. Binance ultimately withdrew from the deal, leaving FTX beyond recovery—leading some to claim that CZ effectively eliminated his largest competitor.

Recently, posts critical of Binance and CZ have been circulating widely within the crypto community. Reports that Binance demands close to 8% of token supply for listings appear credible and are widely viewed as excessively expensive, making criticism unavoidable.

While not all allegations against CZ can be confirmed as factual, many find his actions questionable in context. With crypto prices continuing to fall, his “Buy and Hold” messaging has further intensified backlash. The criticism is not limited to retail users—Star, the CEO of OKX, also posted remarks on X that appeared to indirectly criticize Binance, drawing even more attention.

In response, CZ has claimed that the sudden surge of similarly worded posts criticizing both him and Binance represents a coordinated, manipulated attack. However, the reality is that many long-time, respected participants in the crypto space also agree with a significant portion of these criticisms, lending weight to the ongoing debate.

• Xangle is a Korea-based company that provides Web3 and crypto-related data, research, and information services.

• The company recently secured a $8 million strategic investment from Hanwha Group’s financial affiliates.

• The investment was reportedly personally led by Kim Dong-won, CEO of Hanwha Life, and alongside the funding announcement, Xangle began a strategic collaboration with Hanwha Investment & Securities, supplying them with data APIs.

• As traditional financial institutions—such as banks and securities firms—increasingly recognize the importance of Web3 data and infrastructure capabilities, they are making strategic investments in companies like Xangle. These institutions also appear to believe such partnerships will support the future launch of blockchain-based services.

Xangle operates a comprehensive platform that aggregates and organizes key disclosures from crypto projects, participates in blockchain validator operations, provides APIs, and publishes research, delivering end-to-end Web3 data and infrastructure services.

The recent $8M investment from Hanwha’s financial affiliates suggests that Xangle can immediately meet the Web3 data and infrastructure needs of traditional financial institutions. As digital assets continue to enter the regulated financial system—starting with Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs—even conventional banks are making strategic investments to adopt relevant technologies and align with this institutionalization trend.

• Hashed Open Finance has unveiled Maroo, a Korean won–based Layer 1 blockchain.

• Maroo is designed with a dual-track system that simultaneously satisfies the openness of public blockchains and regulatory requirements, aiming to build an ecosystem around stablecoins, RWAs, and STOs.

• Unlike most existing blockchains—such as Ethereum or Solana—where gas fees are paid in a native token, Maroo is architected so that a KRW-pegged stablecoin can be used directly to pay transaction fees.

• The chain was developed with Korea’s upcoming Digital Asset Basic Act, expected in Q1 2026, in mind, and positions itself as foundational infrastructure for the digital transformation of Korea’s financial ecosystem.

Maroo is a KRW-based Layer 1 blockchain designed for regulatory compliance. It has been developed in anticipation of the Digital Asset Basic Act scheduled for Q1 2026, and a litepaper has already been released. Some of its technology was partially validated in 2025 through the Busan Digital Asset Exchange and the Bidamooni project, though additional time will be required before a fully functional mainnet is launched.

Because gas fees are paid using a KRW stablecoin, Maroo will not have a separate governance token, setting it apart from most existing mainnets. Given that the chain is structurally designed for financial infrastructure use cases, if real demand materializes, Maroo could see meaningful adoption sooner than expected.

• The River token has surged more than 30x in just one month, currently maintaining a market cap of $1.47B and an FDV of $7.5B.

• River raised $12M in funding from prominent backers including Tron Foundation, Maelstrom, Justin Sun, and Spartan Group. Leveraging this support, River plans to integrate its stablecoin, satUSD, into the Tron ecosystem.

• Users can earn River Points by staking tokens such as wBNB or USD1, posting River-related content on social media, and participating in a referral system. These points can be locked and later converted into River tokens.

• However, when converting points into tokens, users must wait a minimum of three months. Expecting the token price to fall during this period, many traders attempted to hedge by opening short positions when River was trading around $4. Instead, these positions were aggressively liquidated, driving the price up to $75.

River’s price has climbed relentlessly from $2 to $75 within a single month, attracting intense market attention. While the project’s $12M raise from Maelstrom (Arthur Hayes’ firm) and Justin Sun’s Tron Foundation lends credibility, the speed and scale of the rally appear highly abnormal.

According to an investigation shared on X by WazzCrypto, a specific group allegedly accumulated nearly 2 million River tokens—close to half of the circulating supply—by withdrawing tokens across 2,418 wallets and Bitget when the price was around $4. With liquidity intentionally kept thin, this group was able to force large-scale short liquidations, generating significant profits.

Another contributing factor appears to be the forced liquidation of hedge shorts placed by users converting River Points into tokens. As these users sought guaranteed returns, they opened short positions, which were then liquidated. This exploited the futures market mechanics, where short liquidations mechanically push prices higher.

It is likely that both strategies were applied simultaneously, resulting in the current price levels. Given that token unlocks have been deliberately delayed and circulating supply is tightly controlled, the situation appears highly engineered. Under these conditions, avoiding trading the River token altogether may be the most prudent approach.

• Citrea is a Bitcoin-native zkRollup, providing an EVM-compatible execution environment while using Bitcoin as the settlement and data availability layer.

• The project has raised $16M in funding from prominent VCs including Founders Fund and Galaxy, and officially launched its mainnet on January 27, 2026.

• Alongside the mainnet launch, Citrea announced integrations with Morpho and Edge Capital’s UlltraYield to enable BTC-collateralized lending, as well as the introduction of ctUSD, a stablecoin issued by MoonPay and powered by M0 infrastructure.

• Assets can now be bridged to the Citrea mainnet. Based on net asset inflows, liquidity provision, and token trading activity on DEXs, Citrea is expected to run incentive campaigns, making it highly likely that participation could lead to a future token airdrop.

Citrea is a Bitcoin Layer 2 project backed by $16M from Founders Fund, Galaxy, and others. With the recent mainnet launch, users can already bridge assets to the network, and related campaigns aimed at early adopters are expected to follow—potentially tied to token airdrops.

Given the presence of ctUSD, a stablecoin designed to comply with the upcoming GENIUS Act guidelines, users may feel more comfortable bridging assets to the Citrea mainnet and participating in early farming opportunities.

• USAT is a U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoin that Tether is planning to launch in compliance with U.S. regulatory requirements.

• While Tether aims to compete directly with USDC, its operations originally began in Hong Kong, and its corporate structure remains geographically distributed, making it difficult to fully align USDT with U.S. regulatory standards. As a result, Tether has faced limitations in offering services within the U.S. market.

• To address these challenges, Tether plans to issue USAT in compliance with the GENIUS Act, the U.S. regulatory framework for stablecoins, with issuance facilitated through Anchorage Digital Bank.

• Under this approach, Tether appears to be pursuing a dual-strategy: maintaining its global dominance with USDT while using USAT as the primary stablecoin for the U.S. market.

The reason Tether is introducing USAT alongside USDT is fundamentally tied to regulatory compliance in the United States. USDT is supported by virtually every exchange and remains the most widely used stablecoin globally. However, unlike USDC, Tether is not U.S.-based, and its origins in Hong Kong have created regulatory uncertainty and restrictions within the U.S..

By launching USAT, a federally regulated stablecoin, Tether aims to secure compliant access to the U.S. market while preserving USDT’s established position in the global crypto ecosystem.

• Opinion, a prediction market platform that has been rapidly increasing its market share, has announced an earlier-than-expected TGE for its native token, OPN.

• To date, Opinion has been distributing 100,000 points per week, allocated based on trading volume, limit order usage, and holding duration.

• Ahead of the TGE, the platform is currently accepting wallet registrations, allowing users to split their OPN token allocation across up to five wallets.

• While it is not yet confirmed whether a snapshot will be taken, bonus points are being offered. Users can earn points efficiently by selecting near-expiry markets and holding equal amounts of YES and NO positions, a strategy that allows participants to accumulate points with minimal or no directional loss.

Following Kalshi and Polymarket, Opinion has risen to third place in prediction market trading volume. Officially launched in October 2025, Opinion is a BNB Chain–based prediction market platform. After receiving investment from YZi Labs, it has gained significant attention—often described as the prediction market counterpart to ASTER in the PerpDEX space.

Expectations of strong returns from the OPN token have driven substantial trading activity on the platform, with users receiving weekly point distributions proportional to their activity. Opinion has now confirmed its token launch and is allowing users to register up to five wallets to receive OPN allocations.

While the exact value of allocations for long-term participants remains uncertain, Opinion’s position as the third-largest prediction market platform suggests the token could deliver solid performance. The project is currently valued at an estimated FDV between $800M and $1.3B, though a clearer picture will emerge once detailed tokenomics—including supply and circulating allocation—are released.

Given that Opinion is moving to TGE faster than most competitors in the prediction market space, there is optimism that it may outperform expectations upon launch.

• This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Cryptocurrency and digital asset investments involve significant risk, and investors should conduct their own due diligence and make decisions carefully.

• All research comments reflect the views of an Uncommonlab research intern and do not represent financial or legal advice, nor do they recommend the purchase or sale of any specific asset.