When the market is focused on ETFs and interest rate cuts: What truly brings money 'on-chain' is actually stablecoin payments.
The recent market situation is very typical: On one side is the macro narrative warming up—interest rate cut expectations, ETF capital flows, and the recovery of risk asset sentiment; on the other side is the rotation of on-chain buzzwords—AI Agent, RWA, PayFi, Base ecosystem, Solana performance, Telegram mini-programs... There are new hotspots every day, but if you think carefully: what do these hotspots ultimately rely on to achieve 'real money settlement'? The answer is almost always: stablecoins. But the awkwardness of stablecoins is also very obvious: everyone says 'Mass Adoption', but the reality is still 'a transfer game for Crypto Natives'. Ordinary users wanting to transfer some USDT often have to first learn gas, buy native coins, and understand confirmation times—this is not payment, this is an 'entry exam'.
#plasma $XPL I just want to ask one question: When transferring USDT, why do you require users to understand Gas first? This is how ridiculous it would be in Web2: You go to a convenience store to buy water, and the cashier first makes you learn the 'fee model', then asks you to go next door to exchange for a 'fuel voucher', otherwise you can't even press the payment button.
So for stablecoin payments to truly break the mold, the core issue is not 'higher TPS', but cutting this process down to just two steps: having money → being able to pay. I’m willing to pay attention to Plasma for a simple reason: it treats 'stablecoin experience' as the default protocol, rather than letting each wallet/application create its own patch. • USDT transfers can be done with zero fees: not a slogan-based subsidy, but locking the behavioral boundaries, combined with authentication + speed limits, pursuing 'controllable costs, preventable fraud, and accountable transactions'. • Stablecoins can also pay Gas: directly removing the need to 'buy native coins first', users do not need to complete side quests to transfer. • Second-level certainty of finality: once received, it counts, and what’s most lacking in payment scenarios is this sense of certainty.
What you need to do is wallet entry, cross-border settlement, merchant payments, and foreign exchange clearing, so stop training users like engineers. Payment is not an education industry.
The biggest illusion about stablecoins in the past two years is that everyone is talking about 'payments', but most chains are still doing 'transfers'. A transfer is simply sending money from A to B; a payment should allow ordinary people to send dollars like sending a message, without needing to learn new things, buy native tokens, or study gas fees.
Plasma's approach is bold: don't treat stablecoins as guests at the application layer; they should be the default residents at the protocol layer. Full EVM compatibility is the baseline, but what's truly powerful are three things—zero-fee USDT transfers, stablecoins being able to pay gas fees, and confidential payments aimed at real financial scenarios (which can still be regulated and disclosed). This isn't 'showing off skills'; it's about removing the hardest first step of user growth directly from the chain.
To be more realistic: cross-border transactions, salaries, merchant settlements, wallet access—what's being competed here isn't the narrative, but the certainty of finality and controllable costs. PlasmaBFT provides a settlement experience of 'counting in seconds'; the protocol-maintained contracts offer 'predictable, auditable, and production-grade components that can be launched'.
If what you want to do is a global stablecoin application, rather than just another DeFi gimmick, then you should focus on this line: #plasma $XPL
I have recently become less fond of hearing phrases like 'our TPS is very high, we want to build financial infrastructure.'
I have recently become less fond of hearing phrases like 'our TPS is very high, we want to build financial infrastructure.' Because the reality is: the bottleneck in stablecoin payments has never been 'the chain isn't fast enough,' but rather who dares to treat stablecoins as the default settlement layer and to create a 'usable product' that integrates experience, cost, and compliance boundaries, instead of leaving it to developers to piece together.
Plasma gives me the impression that it recognizes one thing – stablecoins are not guest stars; they are the main characters. Therefore, it does not take the route of 'first being compatible with EVM and then slowly adding plugins,' but rather tackles the three critical issues in payment scenarios right from the start.
Silver: Don't call me 'poor man's gold,' I am now 'gold's boss'
In recent years, the market has been playing the same old tune: gold is stable, Bitcoin is noisy, and altcoins are crazy. As a result, at the start of 2026, it wasn't the loudest voice that turned the table, but rather the silver, which you've called 'poor man's gold' for many years—it not only broke through $100 per ounce but also accelerated in a mode of 'I'm not pretending anymore.' Bloomberg reports show that silver first reached $100 on January 23, peaking at around $102.87, with a gain of over 40% this year, and the price doubled compared to 2025.
The most expensive "confirmation": After confirming, the money is gone. The South Korean prosecution lost 320 $BTC during a routine check. The situation is more surreal than a joke:
1) The Gwangju police had previously seized 1800 BTC 2) Because processing had to be done in batches, during this time, over 1400 BTC were stolen and remain missing to this day 3) The remaining 320 BTC finally "got smart" - they were put into a USB cold wallet and handed over to the Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office for safekeeping 4) Everyone thought it was secure, but then the prosecution made a move: routine check of the private key 5) And then - 320 BTC also disappeared.
Here comes the key point: It wasn't hackers that made it disappear, it was "the person who opened the computer".
In media reports, the internal speculations of the prosecution are very realistic and very sharp: • They may have accidentally clicked on a phishing page • The computer may have been infected with malware • It could also be that internal personnel took advantage of the situation
In other words: The cold wallet wasn't breached remotely; it was the person who opened the door themselves. More terrifying than a hacker movie is: it doesn't even need a movie.
How much is the money worth? The leaked figure is: About 70 billion Korean won, roughly converting to over 300 million RMB. And when faced with inquiries, the official response is even more classic: "We cannot confirm this matter." In plain language: the money is gone, but we also don't know how it disappeared.
The final summary can only be one sentence: Bitcoin is not at fault, the blockchain is not at fault, the ones who mess up are always people + devices + operational environment. You think the safest is "judicial custody", but the most dangerous is "routine operation".
Epic failure: 320 BTC $BTC was lost during a "routine check". This is not a joke in the crypto world; this is the reality of the most expensive "clicking the wrong webpage".
Recently, we've talked about prediction markets again: The logic is right, but it has never grown significantly. This joint AMA with MetaLabs is meant to clarify— the real battleground is not 'prediction', but 'entry'.
MetaLabs × MetaBank dual-structure first public breakdown: Why should predictions be deep and entries be broad? Why is MetaBank a key link?
Binance Square Space|Little Crocodile China × MetaLabs
Host: Hollow Y
Guests: Raju (MetaLabs Founder)|Leo (MetaLabs Community Evangelist)|Jeonlees
Time: Jan 27, 2026, 8:00 PM UTC+8)
Where do you think the prediction market is stuck: model or entry? Leave a comment, and we'll break it down for you live.
Binance USD1 Savings Up to 8%: I'm not rushing to say it's great, let’s clarify the points that can easily lead to disputes.
I'll state the conclusion first: Once this announcement is released, the comments section will definitely explode. It's not because the number 8% is so exaggerated, but because the phrase behind it, 'Where does the money come from,' can easily lead to misunderstandings.
First, let's pull out the most critical sentence:
The real-time annualized return and additional graded annualized return come from Binance's own funds.
In plain language: This return is more like an activity subsidy funded by Binance itself, not something an external asset can naturally provide stably at 8% in the long term. So if you take it as an 'activity window,' it’s easy to understand; if you take it as a 'long-term fixed rate,' it can easily lead to disputes.
CZ: I no longer have the drive to take on new projects; I mainly focus on investments now. On January 23, according to Tencent Finance, after stepping down as CEO of Binance and undergoing a series of identity changes, Zhao Changpeng (CZ) admitted, "I no longer have the drive to take on new projects. It's the kind of exhaustion from entrepreneurship that, after experiencing it once, I find myself unable to go back to that state, so I mainly focus on investments now."
He further compared the traditional banking industry during a public forum, stating that in December 2023, Binance faced a maximum asset withdrawal of $7 billion in a single day, and processed a total withdrawal demand of $14 billion that week. In contrast, any bank that employs a fractional reserve system would struggle to maintain stability under such liquidity pressure.
Zhao Changpeng (CZ) further pointed out that the importance of blockchain has been proven over the past fifteen to sixteen years. The crypto industry currently has two mature sectors: exchanges and stablecoins. Looking ahead, he is optimistic about three new directions: first, tokenization, which is being discussed with about 12 governments to tokenize assets for economic benefits; second, payments, as cryptocurrencies integrate with traditional payment methods in the backend, payment services will see massive growth; third, AI, where cryptocurrencies will become the native currency for AI agents, and in the future, AI agents will directly use cryptocurrencies to handle actual payment needs.
Last night I came across a message: Gold has reached a new high.
The first reaction is actually quite cliché—"Inflation, the old story." But looking further down, silver also soared to a level that’s hard to pretend you didn’t see, and I started to feel something was off. What’s even more absurd is that at the same time, BTC didn’t keep up. Did you say it collapsed? Not really. But it’s just that kind of state where "everyone is running, you’re standing still adjusting your breath." If you’ve always considered BTC as "digital gold", this comparison is indeed a bit glaring. What exactly is the problem? I don’t think it can be fully explained by the three words "inflation." This round of gold and silver seems more like speculation on one thing: sovereign risk
“I am listening to the voice live broadcast 'From asset execution to platform absorption ARToken miniARTX ARTX loop' at Binance Square. Join me here to listen:” https://app.binance.com/uni-qr/cspa/35378974534850?r=IYV7136H&l=zh-CN&uc=app_square_share_link&us=copylink