Top crypto stories of week 4, 2025
Mon 20 to Sun 26 January 2025
The 20 top stories on Kiwi News from Mon 20 to Sun 26 January 2025, ranked by upvotes, comments and clicks, with 88 comments in total. Most-shared sources: hackmd.io, medium.com.
Text under a title is an AI summary of the linked article.
- Farcaster and the New Narrative Machine (research.auditless.com)
Ben Hunt's "Narrative Machine" concept underpins the argument that narrative, not rationality, drives markets and that social media's value lies in its narrative output rather than its network effects. The author argues that Farcaster's architecture is well suited to this shift, which is being driven by decentralization, the convergence of information platforms and markets, AI agents, and memes. The article notes that X's partnership with x.AI Grok reflects this value, and that agents already support more than $10B in market cap, mostly on X. It predicts that API terms could be changed to tax agent-driven activity, and that the move from taxing attention to taxing narrative development is inevitable.
- Farcaster 2026: Empowering Decentralized Social Media Users (dspyt.com)
Farcaster, a decentralized, open-source social network built on Ethereum and using IPFS for content storage, is presented as a platform that could grow by enhancing user control, fostering interoperability, and expanding marketing and education efforts. The article suggests Warpcast, the flagship app for the Farcaster protocol, could add customizable feeds, interest-based channels, and community management tools. It also proposes a DAO model where users vote on community project proposals, and it recommends webinars, community contests, and partnerships with educational platforms to explain decentralization to potential users.
- Daily discussion thread (hackmd.io)
Kiwi's team is running a trial "Daily discussion thread" to move loose, wide-ranging conversations from its Telegram channel onto the Kiwi platform. The team says its Telegram discussions are high quality but often shift between topics, so they cannot be tied to a specific content piece the way most Kiwi comments are. The idea is modeled on r/ethereum's daily general discussion thread, and users are asked to post Telegram-style discussions under this post for a few days while the team gathers feedback to improve the format.
- I don't know (lessdumb.xyz)
The author, writing about crypto, says Bitcoin's rise and Trump's crypto-friendly presidency leave the industry's future unclear, and that they are taking profits from their crypto holdings while keeping their Bitcoin. They note that Bitcoin has gone from being treated as suspect money to being embraced by figures including Larry Fink, Donald Trump, Stanley Druckenmiller, Ray Dalio and Elon Musk. They argue the industry has been built on a broken incentive structure, citing CoinGecko's figure of $26 billion in airdrops from the top 50 biggest airdrops. They say they have 95% of their net worth in crypto and are moving some of it into "real things."
- Daily discussion thread 2025-01-23 (hackmd.io)
A Kiwi post titled "Daily discussion threads 2025-01-23" introduces a daily thread for open-ended conversation that currently happens on the Telegram channel. The team says the Telegram discussions are high quality but often shift between subjects, so they cannot be tied to a specific content piece the way most Kiwi comments are. The thread is modeled on a daily general discussion thread on r/ethereum, and users are asked to take Telegram conversations to this post. The team plans to run the experiment for a few days and collect feedback to improve it.
- ECB pitches digital euro as response to Trump's crypto push (reuters.com)
- Farcaster 2026: The Game-Changing Potential of AI Agents (app.t2.world)
AI agents could drive Farcaster's next phase of growth, positioning the platform as a hub for Web3 AI agents. The popular agent Aether is cited as an example, with an NFT drop on Zora minted around 466K times and over 6.8K token holders as of January 2025. Aether's treasury, valued at over $254,000, was used to support Bountycaster, a Base-built app that rewards users for posts and engagement, and Aether has posted 59 bounties there. The AI agent category's market cap rose from $4.8 billion to $15.5 billion in the final quarter of 2024.
- Elon Musk did the Nazi salute on live TV to prove he could (open.substack.com)
- How to grow Farcaster in the post social network era (denkeni.substack.com)
Denken argues that Farcaster is declining and should change its approach by building community around its features rather than emphasizing technology alone. Citing Google+, Facebook's Messenger attempt to copy WeChat's mini apps, and Threads' growth, the post says growth depends on community needs and the customer experience. It notes that Farcaster's registration fee and onboarding are weak points, while multiple clients could let communities build tailored apps. The author proposes that Farcaster refine its branding, define its boundary with Warpcast, and share revenue with third-party developers.
- Daily discussion thread: 24/01/25 (hackmd.io)
- Tech titans bicker over $500bn AI investment announced by Trump (theguardian.com)
- Wikenigma - an Encyclopedia of Unknowns (wikenigma.org.uk)
- Co-founder of Ledger freed after kidnapping (bloomberg.com)
- How Farcaster could grow big without losing its Soul (medium.com)
Farcaster can grow to broader adoption while preserving user control over identity and data, permissionless innovation and decentralized governance, which are presented as the core of its identity. Suggested paths include data portability, open APIs, sub-DAOs and quadratic voting, user-chosen feed algorithms, opt-in advertising, client diversity, and forkability as a safeguard if governance goes astray. The text notes that governance is still in transition, currently guided by a core team, with possible token-based voting later.
- The case for Brain Rot (theatlantic.com)
- pectra.wtf (pectra.wtf)
- Gentrifying Wallets in Hopes That We Actually Get the People Who Would Benefit … (thenetworkcompany.substack.com)
The author argues that crypto's marketing and vocabulary, not its technology, now need attention if the industry wants to reach developers, content creators, media companies and entrepreneurs. The piece says crypto is discussed mainly through gambling, grifting, theft and legal problems, despite a clear use case, and that crypto holds less than 1% of digital economic activity. It proposes that "wallet" is the wrong term, since the app stores finances, media and content, connects to websites, and switches between networks, making it feel more like a hard drive or cloud storage.
- All Devcon talks ranked by views (github.com)
- Farcaster: Beyond the Hype: A Roadmap for Sustainable Growth (medium.com)
Farcaster, a decentralized social network built on Ethereum, could reshape social media if it focuses on user experience, mini-apps, crypto-specific features, growth initiatives, and its core community values. The article says mini-apps have the highest potential for driving growth, citing higher user engagement and retention, developer attraction, and viral spread. It also recommends growth tactics such as influencer marketing, referral incentives, partnerships, hackathons and contests, and paid advertising on Twitter, Reddit, and Discord, while resisting centralization and monetization that would compromise decentralization.
- Executive Order: Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Fintech (whitehouse.gov)
President Trump's executive order on digital fintech sets a policy of supporting responsible growth of digital assets and blockchain technology, and prohibits US agencies from establishing, issuing or promoting central bank digital currencies. It revokes Executive Order 14067 and the Treasury's July 7, 2022 framework on digital assets. It also establishes the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets within the National Economic Council, chaired by the Special Advisor for AI and Crypto, which must report within 180 days on a proposed federal regulatory framework for digital assets including stablecoins, and evaluate a possible national digital asset stockpile.