hodler

23 Jan 2026, 21:42

Crypto IPO boom grows as CertiK plans public listing

CertiK is now among crypto companies planning to go public. It’s seeking to be the first public web3 cybersecurity company. CertiK is aiming for a $2 billion valuation. The on-chain analytics firm supported by Binance, will launch an initial public offering (IPO), co-founder Ronghui Gu said. He added, “We still do not have a very concrete IPO plan. But this is definitely the goal we are pursuing.” Gu, an associate professor of computer science at Columbia University, told Acumen Media at Davos this week that this is clearly the goal they are aiming for. Going public is the next logical step, says CertiK chief Gu said in a statement that going public is the next logical step to grow CertiK’s products and technology. “We remain focused on strengthening the trust, security, and transparency that regulators, institutions, and users expect from the Web3 ecosystem,” said the co-founder of CertiK. Established in 2018, CertiK, located in New York, reviews blockchain smart contracts and collaborates with cryptocurrency companies to enhance product security. Gu stated the firm has served more than 5,000 clients and reviewed code protecting around $600 billion in assets. CertiK often secures substantial funding. Since its founding in 2018, the firm raised $296 million and reached a $2 billion valuation by early 2022. Among the investors are crypto exchange Binance, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, and Goldman Sachs. Binance is CertiK’s largest backer Gu stated that Binance was CertiK’s first and largest financial supporter, and the company has also secured funding from Coinbase and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. At the start of this month, CertiK formed a key alliance with YZi Labs, the family office of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. Gu said in the interview that Binance recently made another multi-eight-figure investment in CertiK, becoming their largest investor. A surge in initial public offerings is taking place in the web3 space. CertiK announced this as more crypto companies plan to go public due to rising institutional investor interest. Circle, the issuer of USDC, raised $1 billion in its IPO last year. Investors were eager to join the growing stablecoin market. More IPOs from Bullish, Gemini, Galaxy Digital, Figure, and Exodus raised large amounts by meeting crypto demand. On Thursday, BitGo , a crypto custodian, began the year by securing $213 million in its IPO from investors. Kraken, Ledger, Consensys, and Aminoca Brands plan to launch public offerings later this year. The year 2026 appears poised for major success. Gu said many expect IPOs from web3 native firms, especially infrastructure ones like CertiK, which aims to be the first public Web3 cybersecurity company. CertiK tries to fix past operational mistakes CertiK aims for an IPO while striving to restore trust following multiple mistakes. The company faced criticism recently for auditing code tied to cybercriminals, mishandling a Kraken exchange exploit, and its X account being hacked. CertiK said a phishing attack on an employee led to the compromise of its X account. The company faced heavy criticism for admitting that its employees found and exploited a $3 million bug in the crypto exchange Kraken. CertiK said the event was a “whitehat” action meant to check Kraken’s security. In 2025, CertiK issued an apology for collaborating with a Cambodian marketplace connected to illegal activity. According to a Cryptopolitan report , the web3 firm was misled to audit the code of a stablecoin released by Huione Guarantee. The stablecoin, USDH, was created as a censorship-resistant alternative to Tether’s USDT. Huione Guarantee operates as a marketplace where cybercriminals launder stolen funds, trade hacking tools and personal data, and sell shock collars and stun batons linked to forced labor scams in Southeast Asia. Claim your free seat in an exclusive crypto trading community - limited to 1,000 members.

23 Jan 2026, 21:41

STRK Weekly Analysis: Strategic Evaluation of the Week of January 23, 2026

STRK continues its downtrend while testing the critical $0.0710 support; BTC's bearish context is increasing pressure on altcoins. Weekly strategy emphasizes long opportunities on support hold, sho...

23 Jan 2026, 21:40

CZ said claims of business ties with President Donald Trump’s family are wrong

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is pushing back on the idea that he had business ties to President Donald Trump’s family, calling the claims a full-on misunderstanding. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, CZ told CNBC, “There’s no business relationships whatsoever.” He said people were reading too much into the events that followed his 2025 pardon , especially around the use of a stablecoin linked to Trump’s relatives. The rumors began after Trump’s October 2025 pardon, which came a year after CZ was released from prison. He had served four months following a 2023 guilty plea for allowing money laundering at Binance during his time as CEO. Part of that plea deal included stepping down from the company and paying a $4.3 billion settlement to the Department of Justice. He left the role but remains one of the exchange’s biggest shareholders. $2B stablecoin payment from Abu Dhabi triggers speculation The noise started with a $2 billion investment Binance received in March 2025 from MGX, a state-owned investment company in Abu Dhabi. Instead of wiring the cash directly, MGX paid in USD1, a stablecoin created by World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm launched by Trump’s family. That’s what sparked all the suspicion. “MGX is the investor. They choose USD1,” CZ said. “My request to them was they pay us in crypto. I don’t want to deal with banks, really.” He said people wrongly thought that accepting USD1 meant he had business with the Trump family. “Many people misconstrued that.” CZ explained that Binance didn’t hold on to the stablecoin. Instead, it converted it to other assets over time. “Stablecoin is just a currency for payment. Just because I accepted that, it doesn’t mean I invested in the issuer of that.” David Wachsman, a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial, denied any link to the pardon. “WLFI is not a political organization and had zero role in the pardon process. To imply otherwise is dangerous and false.” Still, the Wall Street Journal later said that Binance also helped build the tech behind USD1, citing unnamed sources. Asked about why he gave the pardon, Trump said, “A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything. And so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.” Lobbyist payments and tokenized stocks return to headlines At the same time, NBC News reported Binance had hired a lobbying firm called Checkmate Government Relations. It’s run by Charles McDowell, a friend of Donald Trump Jr. The firm said it was paid $450,000 to lobby both the White House and the Treasury Department, pushing for “executive relief” and policy work related to crypto and financial services. CZ denied any connection between the lobbying and the pardon. “There is a lot of media saying that there is some deal in place to get me the pardon. As far as I know, that does not exist at all.” He also said he hasn’t spoken with Trump. “The closest that I got to him was today when he was doing the Board of Peace session. I was in the audience, about 30 to 40 feet away from him.” While all that’s going on, Binance is looking to bring back tokenized stock trading, a feature it dropped in 2021. These stock tokens are blockchain-based representations of actual shares in companies like Apple or Microsoft, allowing people to buy smaller portions without owning a full share. A Binance spokesperson allegedly told The Information, “Binance is committed to bridging traditional finance and crypto, expanding user choices while maintaining the highest regulatory standards. Since last year, we started supporting tokenized real-world assets, and we recently launched the first regulated TradFi perpetual contracts settled in stablecoin.” They added, “Exploring the potential to offer tokenized equities is a natural next step in our mission to bring TradFi and crypto closer together as we continue to actively build infrastructure, partner with traditional institutions, and develop innovative solutions for our users and the industry.” If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter .

23 Jan 2026, 21:40

Binance Eyes European Comeback With MiCA License Bid In Greece As Clock Ticks On July 1 Deadline

Binance has submitted an application for a crucial Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) license in Greece.

23 Jan 2026, 21:37

Altcoin momentum fades as market shifts back into Bitcoin season

Altcoin momentum continues to fade as the Altcoin Season Index falls deeper into Bitcoin season, while market sentiment turns cautious.

23 Jan 2026, 21:21

Real stablecoin payments are just $400B per year

Adjusted stablecoin transfers and payments are just $400B when not accounting for routing and double transactions. The estimate is much lower compared to the reports of $10T to $30T. Real estimates of stablecoin transfers and payments are at around $400M per year, shows the latest data by Artemis. Previous reports of $10T to $30T, rivaling credit card payments, may not be accurate and do not reflect the movement of funds between counterparties. Adjusted stablecoin data show that a transaction may produce additional on-chain activity, which does not reflect the original payment intention. The real value transfers are not differentiated from technical movements, unspent outputs, smart contract activities and high-volume trading. Stablecoin payments doubled in the past year Even with filtered and adjusted transactions, the latest data shows stablecoin payments doubled in the past 12 months. In total, payments reached $400B, coinciding with the constant growth of active wallets. Artemis filtered for payment-like behaviors, showing a more detailed breakdown of the usage of stablecoins. The report discovered wider adoption in several use cases. B2B payments made up $230B, or 60% of all transfers. Remittances reached $90B in the past year. Stablecoins were also used to settle capital market trades, with around $8B in volumes. The biggest sector growth came from stablecoin cards. For now, the cards handled $4.5B, but the sum represented an 800% year-on-year growth. Overall, crypto card usage spiked in the past year, driven by improved regulations. Regional adoption of stablecoin payments remains uneven Stablecoin payments are regionally clustered, linked either to local economies or to specific regional crypto activity. Most of the real stablecoin traffic is concentrated in Asia, with Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan emerging as leaders. Payment usage depends on local merchant adoption and culture. The spread of apps using Tether among merchants is one of the payment drivers. While stablecoin adoption increased in the USA and Europe, the tokens were more rarely used for payment purposes. However, global usage remained strong, boosting the adoption of USDT. In the past year, USDT and USDC were also among the most active contracts on Ethereum. Non-payment stablecoin activity remained strong Artemis discovered earlier that smart contract activity made up 49.66% of all stablecoin transfers. The exact ratio may depend on the period observed, but overall, smart contracts for trading, loans, and other DeFi activities are key to stablecoin adoption and demand. Simple transactions between wallets made up just over 50% of all transfers. Payment activity is clustered in smaller sum transfers, while smart contracts usually move whale-sized stablecoin orders. As stablecoin markets matured, app producers and platforms started to differentiate the potential activity of assets. Several apps and chains are starting to focus on payments through stablecoins, choosing the least risky regulated assets. At the same time, synthetic, asset-backed, or DeFi-focused stablecoins rely on contract activity, vaults, and staking, showing a different activity profile. Want your project in front of crypto’s top minds? Feature it in our next industry report, where data meets impact.