Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted a cautionary screed about TRUMP, political meme coins, and the current state of the crypto industry.

He noted that Gensler left a regulatory loophole in differentiating governance tokens from securities, which has ushered in a wave of bad actors.

Buterin vs TRUMP: Fighting for Crypto’s Future

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has displayed a growing anxiety about TRUMP and other political meme coins. In a lengthy social media post, Buterin highlighted a long-form vision of the crypto industry, claiming that “we have been entering a new order” for the last year.

He noted that crypto’s institutional acceptance has allowed bad actors to flourish:

“Now is the time to talk about the fact that large-scale political coins cross a further line: they are not just sources of fun, whose harm is at most contained to mistakes made by voluntary participants, they are vehicles for unlimited political bribery, including from foreign nation states,” Buterin claimed.

For Buterin, the launch of TRUMP was a watershed moment. Nearly 94% of tokens are held by 40 wallets, and scammers have already stolen close to $1 billion, leveraging the hype around TRUMP and MELANIA.

Typically, US Presidents cannot conduct private business in office. Therefore, Trump’s meme coin has created huge concerns, even outside the crypto industry.

However, Buterin did not lay all the blame upon Trump or any other high-profile meme coin issuer. He noted that former SEC Chair Gary Gensler created a loophole in securities laws by designating governance tokens as a potentially separate concept.

In Buterin’s view, Gensler “must never be christened as a hero, even among crypto skeptics,” due to this loophole.

The former SEC chair was widely criticized and despised by the crypto industry for his regulatory crackdowns, even after approving a Bitcoin ETF. Gensler never provided regulatory clarity or closed down the loopholes in current regulations.

However, with the benefit of hindsight, Buterin claims that crypto’s response of “part compliance, part rebellion” led directly to TRUMP. Still, he does see a way forward.

“There is a bright future of capital allocation mechanisms that can be built. Potentially, we can come up with ways to ensure alignment with community wishes as well as safeguarding important values like privacy, security, open standards and open source. Acceleration is coming either way; it is our task to choose the brightest possible vector,” he finished.

Buterin noted that the entire DeFi community has a responsibility to educate newcomers about long-term fulfillment and wealth-building, return towards honest token-based fundraising, and proactively defend the space against this self-destructive market logic.

He suggested a “techno-optimist” d/acc or “defensive acceleration” philosophy to move forward.

Binance Labs is rebranding to YZi Labs and becoming an independent organization, allowing former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao to take an active role.

The news was shared with BeInCrypto through an exclusive press release.

CZ To Join the Rebranded Binance Labs

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao was handed a prison sentence last year, only to be released back in September 2024. However, as a part of his release agreement, CZ received a lifetime ban from working at Binance.

Since his release, the former CEO has focused on education and charity, but this might be changing. Binance Labs is rebranding to YZi Labs and becoming an independent firm, allowing CZ to return,

“Rebranding to YZi Labs is more than a name change—it signifies an expanded vision as we broaden our horizons to include transformative sectors like AI and biotech. We’re thrilled to welcome Ella Zhang back to lead this next phase. Her expertise and vision were instrumental in shaping the organization’s early success,” CZ said.

Ella Zhang was the head of Binance Labs from 2018 to 2020, cofounding the research arm with CZ. Zhang left to become an independent entrepreneur in 2020 but is now returning. She stated that YZi will expand its research into AI and biotech, unlike Binance Labs.

Binance’s current CEO, Richard Teng, actually alluded to these changes in 2024. He claimed that Binance Labs would rebrand in the near future, and that CZ would be “back in action” in some capacity.

CZ maintained an influential presence in the broader crypto space as a private individual, but he is once again adding his voice to a larger project.

Ultimately, it’s unclear what role CZ will actually play at YZi Labs. The press release noted his “hands-on approach” that suggests an important daily function and claimed he will “play a pivotal role in investment activities.”

Ella Zhang will occupy the leadership position, but CZ’s role could still be very broad-reaching.

Overall, all these plans do ignore one key elephant in the room – Binance’s continuing struggles with US law enforcement. Even if YZi Labs is nominally an independent entity from Binance, CZ still received a lifetime ban.

The firm is a clear spinoff staffed by Binance associates, and it will even continue funding BNB Chain’s MVB program. This fig leaf may not withstand scrutiny.

Solana (SOL) price has experienced significant volatility in recent days as it faces key technical challenges. After reaching a new all-time high on January 19, SOL has pulled back 14.5%, though it maintains a 16.7% gain over the past seven days.

Technical indicators suggest the strong uptrend is losing momentum, with key support and resistance levels likely to determine the next major price move. The growing number of whale addresses holding large SOL positions indicates strong institutional interest, despite the recent price correction.

SOL Whales Are Reaching All-Time Levels

Solana whales have reached historic levels, with addresses holding 10,000+ SOL peaking at 5,137 three days ago before slightly declining to 5,128.

Tracking these large holders is crucial for market analysis since whales can significantly impact price movements through their trading decisions and often represent institutional players whose actions can signal broader market sentiment and potential price trends.

The current elevated whale count, which jumped from 5,054 on January 17 to 5,128 in just six days, suggests strong institutional confidence in SOL despite the minor recent decline.

This rapid accumulation by large holders could indicate positive price momentum for Solana. However, investors should remain aware that concentrated holdings also carry the risk of increased volatility if whales make coordinated moves.

Solana DMI Shows the Trend Is Losing Its Steam

Since SOL price recent all-time high, the average directional index (ADX) for Solana has declined sharply from 66.2 to 27.2 over the past four days.

ADX measures trend strength regardless of direction, with readings above 25 indicating a strong trend and below 20 suggesting a weak trend. The current 27.2 reading shows the trend is still strong but significantly weakening from its recent extremely strong levels.

The decline in +DI (Positive Directional Indicator) from 26.2 to 22.2 alongside an increase in -DI (Negative Directional Indicator) from 12.5 to 17.4 suggests momentum is shifting. While SOL remains in an uptrend, these DMI components indicate selling pressure is increasing while buying pressure is decreasing.

This technical setup often precedes a period of consolidation or potential trend reversal, though the current ADX reading above 25 indicates the uptrend still has some strength remaining.

SOL Price Prediction: Will Solana Reach $300 In January?

The narrowing distance between SOL’s EMA lines, while maintaining their bullish alignment (short-term above long-term), typically signals decreasing momentum in the uptrend.

This pattern often suggests a potential period of consolidation or price correction, though the maintained bullish structure indicates that the overall uptrend has yet to break.

The technical analysis reveals critical support and resistance levels that could determine SOL’s near-term direction. A break below $223 could trigger a cascade to $211, with further downside potential to $191.85 if these supports fail.

Conversely, reclaiming bullish momentum could drive Solana price toward $295, with a potential breakthrough above $300 marking a historic milestone.