Institutions Will Start Buying Ether in 2021, Messari Analyst Says
CME Group's announcement that it will launch ether (ETH) futures on Feb. 8, 2021, could spur heightened institutional interest.

CME Group's recent announcement that it will launch ether
CME futures is the writing on the wall.
— Ryan Watkins (@RyanWatkins_) December 27, 2020
They wouldn’t launch an $ETH product if there wasn’t any demand for it.
- The price of the second-largest cryptocurrency just topped $700 for the first time since May 2018, and at the time of writing is at $701.90, up 11.19% in the last 24 hours.
See also: Ether Trades Above $700 for the First Time Since 2018
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Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture

Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.
What to know:
Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.
The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.
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Meta and Microsoft continue going big on AI Spending. Here's how bitcoin miners could benefit

In its fourth quarter earnings report, Meta said capital spending plans for 2026 should be in the range of $115-$135 billion, well ahead of consensus forecasts.
What to know:
- Fourth-quarter earnings results from Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) suggested no slowdown in AI-related spending.
- Microsoft highlighted that AI is now one of its largest businesses and pointed to long-term growth.
- Meta projected sharply higher capital spending in 2026 to fund its Meta Super Intelligence Labs and core business.











