Today's top news highlights:

1. UBS plans to offer cryptocurrency trading services to select clients.

2. Binance is considering restarting tokenized stock trading, allowing investors to purchase a portion of the shares.

3. US lawmakers submitted several amendments to the cryptocurrency market structure bill, including a ban on the president and other individuals trading digital assets.

4. Both the Binance Wallet app and web version now support direct trading of MEME coins using stablecoins.

5. Moonbirds: BIRB tokens will launch on the Solana blockchain on January 28th.

6. Coinbase: Optimistic outlook for Q1 following crypto market correction at the end of 2025

Regulation & Macro

UBS plans to offer cryptocurrency trading services to select clients.

According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the matter revealed that UBS Group AG plans to offer cryptocurrency investment services to some of its private banking clients and is currently selecting partners for this purpose. Discussions have been ongoing for months, and UBS has not yet made a final decision on how to proceed.

A hacker who flaunted his $23 million wallet is accused of involvement in a $90 million theft of a US government property.

According to a post by crypto detective ZachXBT, a hacker using the pseudonym "John (nickname Lick)" was found to be flaunting a wallet address holding $23 million, which is directly linked to more than $90 million stolen from the U.S. government in 2024, as well as the assets of several other unidentified victims between November and December 2025.

This exposure stemmed from a "wealth comparison" argument between "John" and another hacker, Dritan Kapplani Jr., in a group chat, which was recorded. ZachXBT, through analysis of publicly available on-chain data, revealed the address's connection to multiple major theft cases.

French encrypted tax filing platform Waltio suffers ransomware attack and data breach, potentially affecting nearly 50,000 users.

According to Le Parisien, Waltio, a French cryptocurrency tax filing platform, announced that it has been blackmailed by a hacker group called "Shiny Hunters." The group claims to have obtained the personal data of approximately 50,000 of the platform's customers (most of whom are located in France) and is demanding a ransom.

Waltio, a company that provides portfolio tracking and tax calculation services for cryptocurrency holders, has reported the incident to the police regarding an "attempt to extort and compromise its automated data processing system." The report indicates that the hackers allegedly obtained the clients' email addresses and account balance information as early as 2024.

Grayscale has submitted its S-1 filing for the BNB ETF to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The U.S. SEC has dropped its lawsuit against Gemini Earn.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated in a court filing that it will dismiss the lawsuit against Gemini and its defunct Earn product. The filing states that since Gemini Earn investors have already recovered 100% of their assets, the lawsuit no longer has legal basis.

In 2023, the SEC sued Gemini and Genesis Global Capital, alleging that the two companies sold unregistered securities in the form of Gemini's income-generating product, Earn. The SEC claimed in the lawsuit that investors entrusted funds to Gemini, which then lent those funds to Genesis, which stopped withdrawals after the FTX crash in 2022 and the broader cryptocurrency market downturn. The SEC suspended the lawsuit last April after Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda took over the regulatory body.

US lawmakers have submitted several amendments to the cryptocurrency market structure bill, including a ban on the president and other individuals trading digital assets.

Democratic lawmakers have submitted several proposed amendments to the bill ahead of next week's Senate Agriculture Committee hearings, debates, and votes on the cryptocurrency market structure bill.

One of the amendments aims to add a "Digital Asset Ethics Act" to the bill. This amendment would prohibit "regulated personnel," such as the president, vice president, and members of Congress, from engaging in certain financial transactions involving digital assets. Bloomberg has estimated that Trump has profited approximately $1.4 billion from his cryptocurrency investments, including investments from the DeFi and stablecoin project World Liberty Financial. The Trump family also holds a 20% stake in the mining company American Bitcoin.

Other amendments include measures to prevent fraudulent transactions via digital asset self-service terminals; and a requirement to postpone the enactment of future cryptocurrency legislation until at least four commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are appointed. This issue has been a point of contention among some lawmakers, as the CFTC currently has only one commissioner, while the maximum number of commissioners is five.

The FBI has arrested a former Olympic skier suspected of using cryptocurrency to transfer drug money.

Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder, has been arrested in Mexico and extradited to the United States after being accused by U.S. authorities of using cryptocurrency for drug trafficking.

U.S. authorities arrested former Canadian snowboarder Ryan Wedding on Friday and apprehended a drug lord suspected of using cryptocurrency networks to transfer and launder the proceeds of his crimes. Wedding was previously listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for alleged cocaine trafficking and murder. According to the FBI, Wedding had ties to the Sinaloa drug cartel and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control in November.

The UK's FCA has entered the final stage of its cryptocurrency regulatory consultation, seeking feedback on consumer liability rules.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has entered the final stage of its regulatory consultation on cryptocurrency companies and is seeking feedback on how its consumer liability rules apply to crypto asset companies until March 12. The FCA plans to open the application process for crypto asset licenses in September 2026.

Consumer responsibility is a regulation of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) designed to set high standards for how financial companies treat retail clients. It requires companies to act in good faith, avoid foreseeable harm, and help people achieve their financial goals. Companies must provide clear information, fair pricing, and support throughout the customer journey, not just at the time of transaction.

ARK Invest has submitted applications for two cryptocurrency ETFs linked to the CoinDesk 20 index.

Ark Invest Tracker reported that ARK has submitted applications for two cryptocurrency ETFs linked to the CoinDesk 20 index.

ARK CoinDesk 20 Crypto ETF (with Bitcoin inclusion)
ARK CoinDesk 20 ex-Bitcoin Crypto ETF (version excluding Bitcoin)

Project Updates

Binance Futures will launch SPACEUSDT and FIGHTUSDT USDT U-margined perpetual contracts.

According to the official announcement, Binance Futures will launch perpetual contracts at the following time:

January 23, 2026, 19:45 (UTC+8): SPACEUSDT perpetual contract, with a maximum leverage of 20x;
January 23, 2026, 20:15 (UTC+8): FIGHTUSDT perpetual contract, with a maximum leverage of 20x.

Both the Binance Wallet app and web version now support direct trading of MEME coins using stablecoins.

According to the official announcement, both the Binance Wallet app and web version now support direct trading of MEME tokens using stablecoins. Users can switch payment currencies and purchase MEME tokens directly using stablecoins from any trading interface. Currently supported stablecoins include USDT, USDC, U, and USD1.

173rd Ethereum ACDC Meeting: Glamsterdam Upgrade Scope May Not Match Schedule

According to Christine D. Kim's summary of the 173rd Ethereum Consensus Layer Core Developers Meeting (ACDC), developers reached a stark realization at the meeting: in order to launch the Glamsterdam upgrade by mid-year, they may have to significantly scale it down. Currently, the developers have not explicitly acknowledged a significant mismatch between the planned scope of the Glamsterdam upgrade and the proposed timeline. They have only acknowledged the possibility of such a problem and stated that if it does exist, they will resolve it by the end of February.

The meeting specifically discussed that if EIP 7732 cannot achieve an interoperable version by the end of February, it will be considered for removal from Glamsterdam and postponed to a future hard fork. In addition, the meeting also covered other developments: Consensys' Teku client team reported node performance issues discovered during mainnet stress testing, which are being fixed and have slowed their participation in Glamsterdam; EIP 7928 requires minor API change review by the consensus layer client; the deadline for submitting the Hegota upgrade Headliner EIP proposal is February 4th; and some client teams have completed initial work on library updates to support EIP-7688.

Spacecoin has opened applications for SPACE token airdrops.

According to the official blog, Spacecoin has announced that it is now open for SPACE token airdrop applications. Users who participated in Season 1 and Season 2 events, or who hold CTC tokens and ecosystem NFTs (such as CTC-0, CPC, etc.), are eligible to receive the tokens. Users need to go to the official Penguinbase portal to connect their wallets to apply. The SPACE tokens will be distributed to the user's Creditcoin network address.

Coinbase has included Doodles (DOOD) and Moonbirds (BIRB) in its listing roadmap.

Coinbase has announced that Doodles (DOOD) and Moonbirds (BIRB) are on its listing roadmap. Trading on these tokens will be subject to market-making support and technical infrastructure requirements. Specific timing will be announced later.

Binance is considering restarting tokenized stock trading, allowing investors to purchase a portion of the shares.

Binance is considering relaunching tokenized stock trading. Stock tokens are digital representations of stocks, allowing investors to purchase partial shares (held and settled on the blockchain) instead of owning all of Apple or Microsoft's shares, reflecting the price of the underlying asset in real time. Binance previously shut down a similar product in 2021 due to regulatory pressure.

In addition, OKX, Coinbase, and traditional exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are also exploring stock tokenization, indicating a resurgence of interest in stock tokenization across the financial industry.

However, numerous legal and regulatory hurdles remain, as pending cryptocurrency market structure legislation and existing securities regulations in the United States could slow down or limit the rollout of equity tokenized products.

Moonbirds: BIRB tokens will launch on the Solana blockchain on January 28th.

Arianna Simpson, General Partner at a16z Crypto, has announced her departure and plans to establish a new fund.

Arianna Simpson, General Partner of a16z Crypto, announced her departure from the well-known crypto investment firm in a post on the X platform. She plans to launch her own new fund, expanding its investment scope to include various vertical sectors. She specifically thanked Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner of a16z Crypto, for his long-term guidance, stating that his investment framework will continue to influence her career. According to Chris Dixon's response, Arianna Simpson is an early advocate of cryptocurrency, has experience founding cryptocurrency funds, and then worked at a16z Crypto for six years, making several successful investments.

Crypto wallet Rainbow will launch a CCA auction on Uniswap on February 2nd.

Crypto wallet Rainbow announced that it will launch a CCA mechanism auction on Uniswap on February 2nd. Anyone can participate in the auction, and 100% of the proceeds will automatically become on-chain liquidity for RNBW. More details will be announced later.

Previously, it was reported that Rainbow would be airdropping its RNBW token TGE on February 5th. TGE would account for 15% of the total supply, with a total supply of 1 billion tokens.

Analysis & Opinions

Analysis: Despite recent strong demand for call options, the market continues to reflect asymmetric downside risk.

According to Glassnode analysis, during the Bitcoin rally in mid-January, the one-week 25-day skew was pulled from deep bearish territory to neutral, while the put/call ratio of options trading volume dropped from 1 to 0.4, indicating strong bullish activity. The key issue isn't whether call options were being bought, but rather how short-term this demand was. Longer-term skews presented a different picture: the one-month 25-day skew only shifted from a low of 7% to 4%, still within the bearish asymmetric range; the three-month 25-day skew changed by less than 1.5% and remained firmly in bearish territory, reflecting continued asymmetric downside risk despite recent strong call option demand. This difference suggests that upward demand is real, but concentrated in the short term. Trading volume exists, but risk is not being repriced across all timeframes.

Meanwhile, implied volatility of at-the-money options was sold during the price rise, with gamma sellers taking profits. This volatility behavior is not typical of a sustainable breakout. An ideal breakout requires spot prices to approach key levels, skew across all maturities to strongly point to higher levels, and volatility to be bought; last week's price action did not meet these conditions.

GameStop has moved all its BTC holdings to Coinbase Prime, possibly in preparation for a sale.

CryptoQuant reported on the X platform that GameStop's on-chain wallet has transferred all its BTC holdings to Coinbase Prime today, most likely for sale. Between May 14th and 23rd, 2025, they purchased 4,710 BTC at an average price of approximately $107,900, for a total investment of approximately $504 million. Selling at the current price of approximately $90,800 could result in a loss of approximately $76 million.

Standard Chartered Bank: Buying Ethereum and Bitmine shares before the weekend might be a good choice.

Geoff Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered Bank, said that Ethereum, like other cryptocurrencies, has experienced a significant drop in recent days, but the positive momentum continues. He pointed out that since the Fusaka upgrade in December, Ethereum network transaction volume has surged to record levels. This upgrade effectively alleviated previous capacity bottlenecks and drove growth in on-chain activity.

Furthermore, Bitmine, the largest corporate holder of ETH, continues to buy Ethereum, and the macroeconomic environment is also playing a positive role: easing of Greenland-related tariff risks, a rebound in the Japanese bond market from its sell-off, and rising expectations that Rick Rieder, BlackRock's head of fixed income, may become the next Federal Reserve Chairman are all favorable for risk assets. He believes that going long on Ethereum and Bitmine (BMNR) before the weekend offers a good risk-reward ratio.

Coinbase: Optimistic outlook for Q1 following crypto market correction at the end of 2025

In its latest "Charting Crypto" report, Coinbase Institutional points out that after adjustments at the end of 2025, the cryptocurrency market has a more solid structural foundation at the start of 2026; entering the first quarter, market positioning has improved and the overall environment is more balanced.

The report argues that the decline in the fourth quarter of last year helped clear out previously accumulated excessive leverage and speculative positions. The current environment indicates that the market is undergoing a recalibration rather than a return to aggressive risk-taking. Investor participation remains active but more cautious, and position allocation is more rational and orderly than in previous expansion phases, reducing downside risk and making the market more resilient to shocks. Meanwhile, on-chain data shows that supply dynamics are becoming more orderly, signs of panic selling are decreasing, and holder behavior is gradually returning to normal; leverage use in the derivatives market is also more restrained. Although macroeconomic uncertainties remain, related risks have been largely absorbed by market positions, resulting in a more controlled price response.

Report: Over $35 trillion in stablecoin transfers occurred last year, but only 1% went to real-world payments.

A new report from consulting firm McKinsey and blockchain data company Artemis Analytics shows that stablecoins transferred over $35 trillion on the blockchain last year, but only about 1% of that was for real-world payments. The analysis estimates that only $380 billion in activity reflected actual payments, such as payments to suppliers, remittances, or payroll. This represents approximately 0.02% of total global payments, while McKinsey estimates that total global payments exceed $2 trillion annually.

Vitalik: Institutions and cypherpunks are not absolute enemies; a balance must be struck between cooperation and autonomy.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that the relationship between "institutions" and "cypherpunks" is complex and needs to be properly understood. Institutions (including governments and corporations) are neither absolute friends nor absolute enemies. Vitalik emphasized the need to be open to mutually beneficial cooperation while actively protecting one's own interests. In this context, the core task of the Ethereum community is to build a financial, social, and identity layer to protect people's autonomy and freedom.

The optimal strategy for institutions in this game is to strengthen control within manageable limits while resisting external intrusion. This makes them often more focused on data sovereignty and security than ordinary users. Vitalik predicts that institutions (including businesses and governments) will more actively reduce their reliance on external trust and have greater security for their operations.

In the stablecoin space, this means that EU asset issuers want their blockchain governance to be less concentrated in the US, and vice versa (similar situations exist in other countries). Governments will push for more KYC processes, but at the same time, privacy tools will be improved as cypherpunks work to enhance their performance. Institutions want control over their wallets, and even over their staking when staking ETH.

Yi Lihua: Buy more ETH now while prices are low; ETH is the biggest beneficiary of stablecoin globalization and blockchain-based finance.

Jack Yi, founder of Liquid Capital, wrote on the X platform: "ETH is the biggest beneficiary of the globalization of stablecoins and the on-chaining of finance. These are also the biggest opportunities for the practical application of crypto. In the short term, bottoming out is a normal process. What I have been working hard to do every day recently is to buy more ETH when prices are low and actively participate in various ETH capital platforms to help them expand their capital and add more ETH. Only by being pragmatic and bullish can we reap the ultimate big results."

mechanism

DDC Enterprise, a US-listed company, increased its holdings by 200 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 1,583 BTC.

DDC Enterprise, a US-listed company, announced that it acquired another 200 BTC on January 22 local time. After the transaction, DDC's total Bitcoin holdings increased to 1,583, and its Bitcoin return rate since the beginning of the year is 33.8%.

Nasdaq issues another delisting notice to Bitcoin treasury company K Wave Media

Nasdaq has once again issued a delisting notice to K Wave Media, a K-Pop media company that has adopted a Bitcoin treasury strategy. This time, the company's market capitalization has not met Nasdaq's minimum market capitalization (MVLS) requirement. Nasdaq requires the company to have a market capitalization of $50 million or more for 10 consecutive trading days by June 2026, otherwise it will not be able to continue to be listed on the Nasdaq Global Market.

Previously, it was reported that K Wave Media received $1 billion in capital to advance its Bitcoin vault strategy. This year, due to its stock price remaining below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days, it received a delisting notice from Nasdaq, requiring the company to raise its stock price to above $1 by July 6, 2026, and maintain this level for 10 consecutive trading days to avoid delisting.

Important data

BlackRock deposited another 15,112 ETH and 249.5 BTC into Coinbase Prime.

According to The Data Nerd, an hour ago, BlackRock deposited another 15,112 ETH (approximately $44.38 million) and 249.5 BTC (approximately $22.25 million) into Coinbase Prime.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $104 million yesterday, marking the fifth consecutive day of net outflows.

According to SoSoValue data, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net outflow of $104 million yesterday (January 23, Eastern Time).

The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest single-day net outflow yesterday was BlackRock ETF IBIT, with a net outflow of $102 million. IBIT's total historical net inflow has reached $62.903 billion.

The second largest outflow was from the Fidelity ETF FBTC, which saw a net outflow of $1.9473 million in a single day. The total historical net inflow for FBTC is currently $11.465 billion.

As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $115.883 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio (market capitalization as a percentage of Bitcoin's total market capitalization) of 6.48%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $56.495 billion.

Ethereum spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $41.7358 million yesterday, marking the fourth consecutive day of net outflows.

According to SoSoValue data, the Ethereum spot ETF saw a total net outflow of $41.7358 million yesterday (January 23, Eastern Time).

The Ethereum spot ETF with the largest single-day net inflow yesterday was the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF (ETH), with a single-day net inflow of $9.1571 million. The current total historical net inflow of ETH is $1.643 billion.

The second largest net inflow was into the Fidelity ETF FETH, with a single-day net inflow of $4.3963 million. The total historical net inflow into FETH is currently $2.591 billion.

The Ethereum spot ETF with the largest single-day net outflow yesterday was the BlackRock ETF ETHA, with a net outflow of $44.4925 million. The total historical net inflow for ETHA is currently $12.506 billion.

As of press time, the total net asset value of the Ethereum spot ETF is $17.702 billion, the ETF net asset ratio (market capitalization as a percentage of Ethereum's total market capitalization) is 4.99%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached $12.302 billion.

Analyst: Crypto ETFs saw twice as much inflow as other categories in July

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