GeckoPulse: Interactive Brokers Takes Stablecoins!

IBKR Bets Big on Stablecoins

The popular retail brokerage platform Interactive Brokers (IBKR) has now allowed users to fund their trading accounts with stablecoins.

Based on their latest announcement, round-the-clock USDC deposits will be enabled for users, with the platform stating that stablecoins are ‘cheaper and faster compared to traditional account funding methods.’

In collaboration with stablecoin infrastructure provider Zerohash, users can begin depositing their funds from their personal crypto wallets to a secure wallet on either Solana, Base or Ethereum.

The funds will then be automatically converted to US dollars and credited to the user’s IBKR account.

While IBKR does not charge any fees on these USDC deposits, Zerohash includes a 0.3% conversion fee, with a minimum fee of $1.

The platform also plans to support more stablecoins in the coming weeks, such as Ripple’s RLUSD and Paypal’s PYUSD.

The End of the Reply-guy?

InfoFi apps such as Kaito and Cookie DAO have sunset some of their core features and products after X has effectively banned these platforms from incentivizing X posts.

According to the X Head of Product, Nikita Bier, the platform will no longer allow apps that pay users to post, citing concerns of spam and an overwhelming amount of 'AI slop.'

In light of this recent change, InfoFi apps have had their X API access revoked.

Shortly after Bier's announcement, Kaito and Cookie DAO both announced the closure of their respective Yaps and Snaps programs.

Kaito itself will be pivoting to Kaito Studio, a tier-based marketing protocol, with built-in analytics and cross-posting capabilities.

Over the past 24 hours, the price of both KAITO and COOKIE tokens has plunged by 20.3% and 17.9% respectively.

For Stakers Only

The Lighter perp DEX has deployed the staking feature for its native LIT token.

With this new update, access to the Lighter Liquidity Pool (LLP) will now be gated, requiring users to stake LIT to deposit USDC at a rate of 1 LIT to 10 USDC.

While this change will be effective immediately for new depositors, existing LLP participants will have two weeks to stake LIT to maintain their positions in the pool.

On the exchange side, Lighter aims to increase the platform's overall trading fees for premium users, such as market makers, where LIT stakers will enjoy discounted fees.

Additionally, users who stake 100 LIT will enjoy free fund withdrawals and transfers.

As of today, the price of LIT has fallen by 18.3% from $2.18 to $1.88.

Figure Joins the On-chain Stock Race!

Crypto lending firm Figure has launched its tokenized stock platform known as the On-Chain Public Equity Network (OPEN).

According to the firm’s recent press release, the protocol will allow companies to issue shares directly on the Provenance blockchain and will be integrated with Figure’s Alternative Trading System.

Besides that, users on the platform will be able to lend or borrow assets directly without having to go through prime brokers.

Figure’s own FIGR stock will be the first to be listed on OPEN, where the firm plans to make its existing listed shares interchangeable with the tokenized version.

Throwing Prediction Markets into the Mix

Centralized exchange Backpack has introduced the private beta of its prediction markets product known as the ‘Unified Prediction Portfolio.’

In a recent announcement post, the firm stated that this new feature will be combined with its existing spot, perpetuals and lending products in a single account.

Through the private beta, eligible traders will be allowed to place bets on crypto and financial topics using a cross-margin account.

On top of that, the Unified Prediction Portfolio allows users to maximize capital efficiency by using the same collateral to open positions on prediction markets, and perform hedging strategies within a single account.

Interestingly, the product does not leverage on top of existing wagering markets by Polymarket and Kalshi but uses its own native mechanism.

Access to the beta is currently by invite only, where the platform's most active traders will have the opportunity to participate.

Final Innings for Fogo

Fogo, an SVM layer-1 crypto project, has launched the airdrop of its FOGO token.

The airdrop checker is now live with claims expected tomorrow, on January 15.

The project recently conducted its pre-TGE token sale on Binance Alpha, raising $7M for 200M FOGO tokens.

FOGO is currently trading at around $0.05 on Whales Market, implying a fully diluted valuation of $500M.

In Other News

The End of the Milky Way. Celestia liquid staking protocol Milky Way announces its shutdown. At its height the protocol was the premier liquid staking protocol for TIA, amassing over $250M in TVL. The closure is part of a larger trend of Cosmos-based projects shutting down as the ecosystem declines.

Bitcoins in Pyjamas. Esports team Ninjas in Pyjamas is expanding their Bitcoin operations having just mined $14M in Bitcoin. The public company, NIPG first announced its plans to enter Bitcoin mining last July.

BitMine Invests into MrBeast? Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion Technologies, an Ethereum treasury firm just announced a $200M investment into Beast Industries, a firm founded by YouTuber MrBeast. Jeff Housenbold, Beast Industries CEO said that the investment will allow the firm to incorporate DeFi into its financial services platform.

OWL Is Live. Cross-chain bridge Owl Finance has just announced the launch of their OWL token. Although the airdrop checker and claims page is live, their website appears to be down presumably due to a surge in traffic. Currently, the token is trading at around $36M in market capitalization.

Sui Halted. Layer-1 network Sui suffered a six-hour outage, the first network incident since its launch in 2023. Services are restored and an incident report is expected soon.

Coinbase Withdraws Support for Crypto Bill. Coinbase, a major US crypto exchange has withdrawn support for a crypto bill hours before a key Banking Committee vote. CEO Brian Armstrong explains the inherent problems of the bill in an X post and that he would rather have “no bill than a bad bill”.

Infinex Closed Oversubscribed. The Infinex ICO ended with $7.2M USDC committed by 868 participants. The sale closed slightly oversubscribed after its initial cold response previously, which saw the team removing its deposit cap.

Polygon’s $250M Acquisitions. Polygon Labs is acquiring Coinme and Sequence, two crypto firms for a total of $250M. This will allow Polygon to become a regulated payments company.

Pakistan Teams Up with World Liberty Financial. Pakistan has signed an MOU with the Trump-linked crypto project, World Liberty Financial, to integrate its USD1 stablecoin into Pakistan’s cross-border payments.

A Rush to Bitcoin ETFs. Bitcoin recorded $750M of inflows to its spot ETFs, the largest single day inflow since October 7, 2025. The demand drove a rally with Bitcoin hitting $94,600.

South Korean Giant Files for Stablecoin Patent. KB Kookmin Card, the subsidiary of South Korea’s largest financial group, has filed for a patent for a new payment technology that utilizes stablecoins. The payment system allows users to spend stablecoins through their existing credit cards.

Bitpanda IPO H1 2026. Bitpanda, a Vienna-based crypto exchange backed by Peter Thiel, is seeking to go public in Germany at a valuation of ~$5B. Sources say they are planning to go public on the Frankfurt stock market exchange.

Russia Finalizes Crypto Bill. Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma’s Financial Markets Committee, said that a draft bill allowing for non-qualified investors to buy crypto is ready. If passed, Aksakov says that crypto “will become commonplace in our lives".

A Stroke of Genius. YZi Labs announced that it would be investing into Genius, a crypto trading terminal with Binance co-founder CZ joining as an advisor. This is presumably part of Binance’s efforts of hedging against the growing DEX:CEX ratio.