Recently, there has been significant movement in the retail payment sector. Retail giants like Walmart have begun supporting users to pay directly with Bitcoin through OnePay Cash at checkout, marking a substantial step forward for digital assets in physical consumption scenarios.

Ethereum's performance has also been impressive. Driven by the Fusaka upgrade in December, the number of new addresses surged by 110%, and ecosystem activity has noticeably increased. More notably, during Q4, on-chain stablecoin transfer volume exceeded trillion USD, reaching a new all-time high, demonstrating the scale and enthusiasm of on-chain financial activities.

However, macro-level signals warrant attention. Bank of Japan Governor Ueda Kazuo revealed that if economic performance meets expectations, the central bank may consider raising interest rates. This move hints at potential risks of unwind in yen carry trades and could have a ripple effect on liquidity across the entire crypto market.

Industry voices are also quite representative. CZ recently warned retail investors not to blindly chase "tenfold overnight" opportunities, emphasizing that the failure rate for such scenarios is extremely high. Meanwhile, the co-founder of Base proposed a counterthinking approach—calling for the community to issue more Memecoin projects, believing this could better foster user consensus. The collision of these two viewpoints reflects the current market's diverse perspectives.