PIKUP Vol. 8: The Campaign Issue | PikuDAO Weekly Newsletter

The Campaign Issue | Week of January 26, 2026

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Welcome Back to PIKUP

Welcome to the eighth edition of PIKUP.

Fear & Greed reads 29. Down from 34 last week. The market went from fear to deeper fear. Bitcoin slipped below $90K and can't find a floor — the timeline is split between tariff panic and rate cut hopium. Ethereum can't hold $3,000 without a fight. The mood? Nervous.

And while everyone's watching charts, Piku just did something different. We stopped talking and started recruiting.

This is the Campaign Issue.

The Galxe questline is live. Not "coming soon." Not "in the works." Live. Right now. On https://app.galxe.com/quest/PikuDAO/GCaSDtYjRX. For the first time, there's a structured path from "WTF is Piku?" to "I'm holding USP and earning yield" — and it rewards every step along the way.

This week: $6.22M TVL. USP at $1.064604. All eight backing strategies positive — again. 7-day APY cooled to 9.47% from last week's 17.90%. We'll talk about that. Honestly, like we always do.

The machine keeps running. Now it's inviting others in.

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Piku Protocol Update

Performance & Stats

• Transparency Dashboard: dune.com/piku_dao

Let's address the obvious: 7-day APY dropped from 17.90% to 9.47%. That's a meaningful decline. We're not going to pretend it isn't.

Here's the context: yield isn't linear. It never was. The backing strategies generate returns based on market conditions — some weeks are stronger than others. BMMF's weekly return came in at 14.77% annualized, down from 24.49% last week. Still positive. Still outperforming most of DeFi.

The 30-day APY tells the real story: 21.27%. That smooths out the weekly volatility and shows what sustained holding actually delivers. If you're here for the long game — and that's who Piku is built for — the 30-day number is your north star.

TVL climbed to $6.22M — up 2.6% from $6.06M last week. Capital is still entering, even as yields normalized. That's a signal: holders aren't chasing the highest APY week. They're staying for the architecture.

USP launched at $1.00. It's now $1.064604. That's +6.46% in pure appreciation — no staking, no lockups, no complex strategies required on your end. Just hold. The protocol does the rest.

Governance

Execution Mode — Week 2

No new proposals. The DAO is in build-and-ship mode. Proposal 12 (Yuzu Money) and Proposal 13 (Galxe funding) are both fully executing. The Galxe campaign that was funded is now live. The Yuzu Money strategy delivered 10.46% APY this week.

This is governance with follow-through. Vote, fund, execute, measure, report. Not vote, forget, repeat.

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USP Backing Distribution

This is the part most protocols hide. We publish it weekly.

Week 4 Performance (Jan 19–26)

Total Backing: $6.22M | Weekly Profit: $14,213.23 | DAO Transfer: $1,421.32

Honest Week, Honest Numbers

Last week's profit was $19,652. This week: $14,213. Down 27.7%. Still five figures. Still positive across every single strategy.

8 strategies. 8 positive returns. Again. Fourth week running.

Here's what stands out:

BMMF normalized: 14.77% APY vs last week's 24.49%. Still the anchor, still the largest allocation, still delivering. FX arbitrage yields fluctuate — that's the nature of the strategy. The Turkish central bank cut rates by 100bps to 37% this week, which impacts the carry trade environment. BMMF adapts. The diversification across other strategies exists precisely for weeks like this.

Midas mAPOLLO quietly shining: 11.98% APY from a 2.51% allocation. Small position, strong return. This is why you diversify — when one strategy cools, others pick up.

Giza Arma Agent holding steady: 11.84% APY. The AI-powered strategy continues to perform consistently. Second week in a row above 11%.

The math that matters: If you held 1,000 USP on January 19, you now have the equivalent of $1,064.60 — up from $1,062.76. That's $1.84 generated while you did nothing. A slower week? Yes. A losing week? Not even close.

Don't trust. Verify: Dune Dashboard | DeFiLlama

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Macro Developments

The world doesn't pause for your portfolio. Neither does your yield.

United States

• Markets Stumble: S&P 500 -0.35%, Dow -0.53%, Russell 2000 -0.32%. A red week across the board, but muted — no panic selling, no sharp drawdowns.
• Tariff Whiplash: Trump softened his stance on tariffs scheduled for February 1st mid-week, sparking a rally on Wednesday. Then uncertainty crept back. Markets hate ambiguity more than bad news.
• Inflation Sticky: Core PCE at +2.8% YoY. The Fed's preferred inflation gauge is cooperating — slowly. The +0.2% monthly read is fine, but 2.8% annual is still above target.
• Labor Market Tight: New jobless claims at 200,000 — 4-week average at 201,500, lowest in 2 years. The job market refuses to crack.
• Consumer Perking Up: Sentiment Index rose to 56.4 from 52.9. Still not confident, but less pessimistic.

Europe

• Red Across the Board: STOXX 600 -0.98%, DAX -1.57%, CAC 40 -1.40%, FTSE MIB -2.11%. European markets had a rough week.
• UK Under Pressure: Unemployment hit 5.1% — a 5-year high. Meanwhile, inflation accelerated unexpectedly to 3.4%. Stagflation whispers getting louder.
• Wage Growth Holding: UK wages up 4.5% annually (ex-bonuses). Workers are getting paid more, spending more, but the economy isn't growing to match.
• Mercosur Delayed: EU Parliament pushed back the trade deal vote. European trade policy remains stuck.

Japan

• Snap Election Called: PM Takaichi announced February 8 elections. Pledged temporary food tax cut from 8% to 0% — bond markets immediately repriced fiscal risk.
• JGB Yields Spike: 10-year at 2.26% — highest since 1997. Japan's post-ZIRP world is getting expensive fast.
• Nikkei Flat: -0.17%. Markets digesting political uncertainty.

China

• GDP Slowdown: Q4 growth at 4.5% YoY — slowest since the 2022 reopening. Full-year 2025 landed at 5%, hitting the target but with declining momentum.
• Investment Collapse: Fixed asset investment -3.8% for 2025 — first annual decline in approximately 30 years. That's a structural warning.
• Consumer Weak: December retail sales +0.9% — weakest since the pandemic reopening. The Chinese consumer isn't spending.

Crypto Markets

Here's where it gets interesting for Piku holders.

• Bitcoin: ~$88K. Slipped below $90K and can't find a bid. The tariff back-and-forth is creating noise. ETF flows were mixed — $1.7B inflows mid-month, then $1.09B outflows last week. Institutions are active but indecisive.
• Ethereum: ~$2,938. Below $3,000 again. The timeline is debating ETH's relevance for the hundredth time this cycle.
• Market Cap: $3.23 trillion. Still elevated, but cracks forming.
• Fear & Greed: 29. Down from 34 last week. Deeper into fear. Yesterday hit 20 — extreme fear. The market is scared.
• ETF Flows: Mixed signals. BlackRock's IBIT keeps accumulating while others see redemptions. Net positioning is uncertain.

The takeaway: Everything is uncertain — inflation, tariffs, elections in Japan, China slowing, crypto scared. And USP generated $14,213 in profit this week anyway. Lower than last week. Still five figures. Still positive. Still compounding.

That's not a guarantee for next week. It's evidence of this week. And the week before. And the week before that.

Looking Ahead

• January 28–29: FOMC Meeting — first Fed decision of 2026. No rate change expected, but guidance matters.
• January 29: Current Merkl campaigns end — new campaigns follow.
• February 1: Trump tariff deadline — will he follow through or delay again?
• February 8: Japan snap election.

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Galxe Campaign: Now Live

The Biggest Piku Growth Initiative to Date

This isn't a section we usually have. It's new — because the campaign is new.

The PikuDAO Galxe questline launched this week on https://app.galxe.com/quest/PikuDAO/GCaSDtYjRX. This is the campaign funded by Proposal 13 — $1,000 USDC + 62,500 PIKU — and it's designed to take someone from zero knowledge to active participant.

What's Live

Discover Piku — Social discovery quests. Follow, engage, learn. No wallet needed.

Explore the Piku Ecosystem — Visit the app, explore the Dune dashboard, subscribe to PIKUP.

How Well Do You Know Piku? — A quiz on USP, yield mechanics, and protocol fundamentals.

Become a Piku Pioneer — Connect your wallet, complete KYC, and mint USP.

Mint/Buy Your First USP — The final step. Go on-chain.

1 USP = 1 Loyalty Point — The more USP you hold, the higher you climb.

The Reward Pool

• 10,000$ worth of $PIKU
• 1,000 USDC
• Surprise rewards

Why This Matters

Every DeFi protocol has a funnel problem. People hear about you, maybe follow on Twitter, and then... nothing. The gap between "interested" and "using the protocol" is where most potential users are lost.

The Galxe questline is Piku's answer to that gap. It's a structured, incentivized path from awareness to action. Each quest builds on the last. Each step rewards engagement. And the loyalty points system means your USP holdings directly determine your ranking.

This isn't growth hacking. It's growth engineering.

Start the questline on Galxe

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Already a Piku veteran? Share the campaign. Every referral strengthens the community you're already part of.

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Community Spotlight: @Brodaviktor

The Explainer Piku Needed

This week we're featuring @Brodaviktor (Toji | HYPERGPT) — for doing something deceptively hard: explaining an entire protocol ecosystem clearly, accurately, and concisely, in a single thread.

The Thread

"The PIKUDAO ecosystem is a decentralized finance framework built around three tokens: USP (a yield-optimized stablecoin), PIKU (utility and governance token), and sPIKU (staked PIKU representing voting power in PikuDAO)."

From there, Toji broke down the full stack — how USP appreciates through diversified backing, how sPIKU works for governance, how PIKU rewards flow through minting, staking, and delegation — all in plain language.

"The ecosystem is a self powered yield that rewards active participation."

That's a one-sentence summary most protocols would pay a branding agency six figures to write.

Why We're Highlighting This

Most crypto threads are either too shallow ("buy this token") or too dense ("let me explain the recursive collateralization mechanism..."). Toji hit the middle ground:

• Accurate: The technical details are correct — USP appreciation mechanics, sPIKU voting power, delegation rewards
• Structured: Walked through the three tokens, then governance, then earning mechanisms — logical progression
• Accessible: Someone with zero Piku knowledge could read this thread and understand the ecosystem

This is exactly the kind of content that brings in informed users — people who understand what they're getting into before they mint their first USP.

PIKUP Content Creator of the Week

Starting this issue, PIKUP is rewarding the best community content every week. The featured content creator receives 10,000 Voting Power — real governance influence in PikuDAO.

Toji, congratulations. You're the first. DM us @piku_dao to claim your 10,000 VP reward.

This isn't a one-time thing. Every week, the best thread, video, analysis, or explainer gets featured in PIKUP and rewarded with Voting Power. Create content that educates. Get rewarded with governance influence. That's the deal.

Read Toji's full thread on X

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Want to be featured in PIKUP? Tag us @piku_dao with your Piku content — threads, analysis, memes, whatever you've got. The best one each week earns 10,000 Voting Power.

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Active Campaigns & Rewards

Multiple ways to earn. All verifiable. No hidden terms.

Merkl Rewards (Pre-TGE)

Current opportunities (as of Jan 27):

Current campaigns end January 29. As always — when one campaign ends, the next begins. Recurring. Consistent. No gap.

The stack: Hold USP for native yield (9.47% 7-day APY) + Merkl PIKU rewards (62.82% APR) + Galxe loyalty points. Three layers of value from one position.

APRs are dynamic. PIKU rewards are Pre-TGE. Campaigns are recurring — when one ends, the next begins.

Galxe Campaign

Status: LIVE Rewards: 10,000$ worth of $PIKU + 1,000 USDC + surprise rewards Link: https://app.galxe.com/quest/PikuDAO/GCaSDtYjRX

View All Piku Opportunities on Merkl

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What's Next

• January 28–29: FOMC Meeting — market-moving potential
• January 29: Current Merkl campaigns end — new campaigns incoming
• February 1: Tariff deadline — watch for macro impact
• Ongoing: Galxe questline live — spread the word
• Coming Soon: New Merkl campaign cycle + Galxe leaderboard updates

No grand promises. No "soon" that never comes. Just the next steps, clearly stated.

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Why Piku? Why Campaign?

Let's end where we started.

For seven issues of PIKUP, we've talked about yield. We've shown the numbers. We've published the backing. We've been transparent when yields were high and honest when they dipped. That's the foundation.

But a foundation nobody knows about is just concrete in the ground.

This is the week Piku started building the house.

The Galxe campaign isn't about vanity metrics. We don't care about 10,000 followers who never mint a single USP. We care about the person who follows the questline, takes the quiz, understands how USP works, completes KYC, and mints their first position. One real user is worth more than a thousand bot accounts.

That's why the campaign is structured the way it is:

Education before action. You learn what USP is before you're asked to buy it. You take a quiz to prove you understand the mechanics. You explore the dashboard to see the data for yourself. Only then do you connect your wallet.

Rewards aligned with commitment. Loyalty points scale with your USP balance. The more you hold, the more points you earn. This isn't a "follow and retweet for airdrop" campaign. It's a "learn, verify, commit, and be rewarded" campaign.

Transparency from day one. Every new user who enters through Galxe will see the same Dune dashboard, the same backing breakdown, the same weekly newsletter. No information asymmetry between early adopters and newcomers.

The 7-day APY came down this week. We told you. The weekly profit dropped. We showed you. That's not a bug in the campaign — it's a feature. People who join during an honest week are the people who stay.

Fear & Greed at 29. 30-day APY at 21.27%. Galxe campaign live. New users incoming.

The machine doesn't just keep running. Now it's inviting others to watch it work.

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Stay Connected and Hedge against the machine!!

Website | App | X (Twitter)

Disclaimer: This newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. USP involves risks; please read our documentation and risk disclosures before participating.

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