Here’s what happened in crypto today
Today in crypto, MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor posts Bitcoin tracker for 12th consecutive week, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong proposed rethinking the company’s asset listing process, and Virtuals Protocol is set to expand into the Solana ecosystem.Saylor posts Bitcoin tracker for 12th consecutive weekMicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor posted the Bitcoin tracker for the 12th consecutive week. The executive typically posts the chart on Sunday before acquiring more Bitcoin the following day."Don't stop thinking about tomorrow," Saylor wrote to his 4 million followers on the X social media platform.The company's most recent Bitcoin acquisition of 11,000 Bitcoin on Jan. 21 brought MicroStrategy's total holdings to 461,000 BTC, valued at approximately $48.4 billion.According to SaylorTracker, MicroStrategy's Bitcoin investment has gained roughly 65% over time, and the company is currently sitting on unrealized capital gains of over $19 billion.Brian Armstrong says Coinbase needs to ‘rethink’ its token listing processBrian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, has proposed rethinking the company’s asset listing process in response to the surge in token creation. In a Jan. 24 X post, Armstrong noted the challenges posed by the exponential growth of new tokens.“We need to rethink our listing process at Coinbase, given there are ~1 million tokens a week being created now, and growing,” Armstrong wrote. He said that manually evaluating each token is no longer feasible and called for regulators to adopt a more pragmatic approach. “It needs to move from an allow list to a block list and utilize customer reviews and automated scans of onchain data to help customers sift through,” he added.Coinbase’s current listing process involves a multi-step approach, including an initial review, due diligence, and regulatory compliance checks, as per its website. Justin Sun, founder of Tron, took a jab at Coinbase’s listing policies, noting that Tron (TRX), one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, has been under review for seven years without being listed. “This has nothing to do with TRX itself but rather reflects Coinbase's loss of the most basic fairness and industry judgment when it comes to new listings,” Sun said on X, responding to Armstrong’s tweet.Virtuals expands to Solana ecosystem, establishes strategic SOL reserveAI agent platform Virtuals Protocol has announced it will expand into the Solana ecosystem, and industry participants are saying the integration will have more impact than “most people realize.”Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUALS), already on the Ethereum layer-2 network Base, said that its expansion to Solana blockchain, a layer-1 network, is part of its efforts to “drive innovation across multiple ecosystems,” as per a Jan. 25 X post.Being on both Solana and Base chains could help grow ecosystem participation, attract developers and users from Solana, and increase scalability while easing network congestion.“Solana, known for its speed, scalability, and vibrant community, is the perfect place for us to grow and bring our vision to life,” Virtuals Protocol said.Virtuals will introduce several new features on the Solana network, including a Strategic Solana reserve, where 1% of trading fees will be converted to SOL to build a reserve to “support and reward agents” and creators within the ecosystem.