Bitcoin’s price ascent continued in the past 24 hours as the asset jumped to $106,000 for the first time this year where it was stopped and pushed south by around three grand.

The altcoins have finally started to retreat after the recent gains, aside from SOL, which has emerged as today’s top gainer.

BTC Stopped at $105K

The highly volatile trading week began with a massive price drop for the largest cryptocurrency that pushed it from $96,000 to a multi-month low of $89,200 (on Bitstamp). After losing so much value within a day, the bulls finally intercepted the asset’s freefall at this point and reversed its trajectory.

Within 24 hours, BTC had regained more than seven grand and stood at around $97,000. The US CPI numbers that were announced on Wednesday brought even more gains, somewhat surprisingly, and bitcoin jumped to $98,500 and then kept climbing toward $100,000.

After a minor rejection there, the cryptocurrency flew past that coveted level. The culmination transpired yesterday when the asset jumped to its highest levels since the all-time high in mid-December of $106,000.

However, it couldn’t continue toward the peak of over $108,000 and started to lose value. As of now, BTC trades at $103,000, which has pushed its market cap to almost $2.050 trillion on CG. Its dominance over the alts is also on the rise, close to 55%.

SOL Defies the Odds

Many altcoins charted notable gains in the past few days but have gone into a retracement mode today. XRP has been at the forefront, coming 1% away from a new all-time high at $3.4. However, it was stopped there and now struggles at $3.1.

Ethereum has dropped below $3,300, BNB is at $700, DOGE is under $0.4, and ADA has lost the $1.1 level. More losses come from AVAX, XLM, SHIB, HBAR, DOT, and others.

In contrast, SOL has soared by 10% and has tapped its highest level since early December of almost $240.

The total crypto market cap has declined slightly since yesterday’s peak, but it is still above $3.7 trillion on CG.

[PRESS RELEASE – Zurich, Switzerland, January 17th, 2025]

Hyperbridge Extends Token Offering Deadline, Token Generation Event Set for Q1 2025

Following the successful launch of its mainnet and Gateway Token Bridge, Hyperbridge announces the extension of its Initial Relayer Offering (IRO) deadline to February 28th, 2025. This decision comes in response to overwhelming demand, with over 52 million tokens out of the total 100 million supply already sold.

The extension offers prospective participants a limited-time opportunity to join the Hyperbridge network, with early buyers still eligible for bonuses. As Hyperbridge expands its reach, this extension provides a final window for supporters to secure their position within the ecosystem.

• 50% Bonus Already Claimed: Early participants who joined before the initial deadline secured a 50% token bonus, a testament to Hyperbridge’s commitment to rewarding early adoption.
• 15% Bonus Available: A limited opportunity remains for participants to receive a 15% bonus on their token purchase.

“We’ve been thrilled by the incredible support from our community so far,” said Seun Lanlege, Founder of Polytope Labs. “Selling over 52 million tokens is a major milestone, and with the extension, we’re excited to welcome even more relayers into the Hyperbridge network before our Token Generation Event in Q1.”

Hyperbridge’s mainnet launch marks a notable advancement in its journey toward transforming blockchain interoperability. The protocol has integrations with many ecosystems, including Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain, zkVerify, Gnosis, Bifrost, and more.

The Gateway Token Bridge is already live, enabling secure, scalable cross-chain token transfers, messaging, and state queries. These integrations position Hyperbridge as a key contributor to the advancement of cross-chain applications.

Hyperbridge is set to hold its Token Generation Event in Q1 2025, and participants in the IRO will be among the first to receive their tokens, unlocking opportunities to actively engage with the protocol.

With its advanced zk-technology and focus on security, Hyperbridge has already seen rapid adoption, supported by integrations across major blockchain ecosystems. The protocol’s hub model ensures scalability and reliability, attracting developers, DAOs, and DeFi projects looking for robust cross-chain solutions.

Regarding utility for the Hyperbridge token, $BRIDGE: a minimal BRIDGE token fee is required for transactions. So transactions such as cross-chain messages, storage queries, and state reads will use the token. Tokens collected as transaction fees are used to fund incentives and rewards for both relayers and block producers. Hence the token is planned to have zero inflation. The token will also be used for governance.

For more information, users can visit Hyperbridge (https://app.hyperbridge.network/sale)

About Hyperbridge

Hyperbridge is a cryptoeconomic coprocessor for secure, verifiable interoperability powered by consensus and storage proofs. Hyperbridge is the HTTPS of blockchain interoperability, providing developers with onchain and off-chain SDKs for securely sending cross-chain messages (POST requests) and reading on-chain storage (GET requests).

Website, Twitter

About Polytope Labs

Polytope Labs is a collective of researchers and engineers founded by core developers of Ethereum, Polkadot, and IBC. Focused on addressing fundamental infrastructure problems that continue to hold back the crypto industry, such as interoperability, scalability, and privacy. The team believes that Web3 is the next evolutionary step of the internet, and is fully committed to advancing truly decentralized technologies.

Website, Twitter

TL:DR;

• With just days left until he steps into office, Donald Trump has once again taken the crypto community’s focus.
• This time, it’s because he has evidently launched a meme coin that has already soared in value and is among the top 40 largest altcoins by market cap.

Trump’s Official Meme Coin

It’s safe to say that the crypto community has seen a lot of strange things in the past decade, especially when it comes down to meme coins. After all, there are some based on dogs, cats, famous frog characters, dead squirrels, and so on.

However, it’s not every day that you see the promotion of a meme coin made by the president-elect of the world’s largest economy. Donald J. Trump, through his official accounts on Truth Social and X, announced yesterday that he has a new ‘official’ meme coin and urged his almost 100 million followers to ‘join my very special Trump Community.’

My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to https://t.co/GX3ZxT5xyq — Have Fun! pic.twitter.com/flIKYyfBrC

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2025

A lot of people questioned the legitimacy of the project and guessed that his account was hacked. However, that doesn’t seem likely at the moment. The meme coin’s website resembles those made for Trump’s official NFT collections in the past, credited to the same licensee – CIC Digital.

It shows that the current circulating supply is 200 million, but it could go up to as high as a billion within the next three years. Somewhat alarmingly, the groups that will own the biggest shares are ‘creators and CIC Digital,’ with a total percentage of 72%.

While others praised the move and officially welcomed Trump to the cryptocurrency space, even though he already has such a project called World Liberty, some, such as ZachXBT, were a lot more skeptical.

Welcome to Top 40

OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP) is obviously today’s top gainer, and its value has skyrocketed by triple digits. According to data from CMC and CG, its market cap has soared to over $4 billion. Although the two platforms have slightly different valuations ($4.3 billion vs $4.05 billion) at press time, TRUMP has entered the top 40 largest alts by market cap on both.

Moreover, TRUMP’s gains come amid a massive retracement from all other meme coins based on his presidential campaign and upcoming presidency.