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Bitcoin dropped sharply after renewed trade tensions between the United States and Europe triggered a broad risk-off move across markets. The price fell about 3.6 percent in a few hours, sliding from around 95,450 to below 92,000, with roughly 750 million in long positions liquidated in four hours and more than 860 million over 24 hours. It later stabilized slightly above 92,500. At the same time, stock futures weakened while precious metals surged, with gold futures reaching a record 4,667 per ounce and silver climbing above 93 per ounce for the first time, highlighting a growing divergence between digital assets and traditional safe havens.
The sell-off followed announcements that the United States plans to impose 10 percent tariffs from February 1 on imports from several European countries, with rates potentially rising to 25 percent by June if negotiations linked to Greenland tensions fail. European leaders signalled a strong response, including possible use of the EU’s anti-coercion instrument and up to 93 billion euros in retaliatory tariffs. Market analysts said the escalating rhetoric is fuelling uncertainty and prompting investors to reduce risk, treating Bitcoin more like a technology stock sensitive to macroeconomic shocks. They warned that further volatility is likely if institutional investors continue to de-risk in response to fears of a deeper trade conflict. Source
Crypto fraud has expanded to an industrial scale, driven by increasingly organized networks using sophisticated social engineering to drain victims’ wallets. Cyvers reported that around 16 billion in crypto assets were tied to fraudulent activity in 2025, affecting at least 140 exchanges and trading venues and impacting users across wallets, payment providers, and banking systems. Its systems detected over 4.2 million fraudulent transactions involving about 780,000 addresses and nearly 19,000 active fraud networks, with most activity concentrated in USDT, ETH, and USDC. Pig butchering schemes emerged as the most persistent and structured threat, relying on long-term deception and fake investment platforms to manipulate victims into authorizing transfers themselves.
Alongside fraud, on-chain security incidents caused major losses, with hacks totalling about 2.5 billion in 2025, continuing an upward trend from previous years. More than 2.2 billion of this came from access control failures such as compromised private keys, misconfigured permissions, and human error, while roughly 292 million resulted from smart contract vulnerabilities. The largest case was a 1.5 billion theft from Bybit, carried out through a supply-chain compromise and valid signatures that initially made the transaction appear legitimate, highlighting how future attacks may blend into normal blockchain activity. Ethereum was the most targeted network, accounting for about 70 percent of funds lost across major incidents, though BNB Chain, Bitcoin, and Sui also suffered significant individual attacks. Source
Progress toward creating a US strategic Bitcoin reserve is continuing, but complicated legal and regulatory issues across multiple government agencies are slowing the process. White House Crypto Council Director Patrick Witt said departments including the Department of Justice and the Office of Legal Counsel are still working through which agencies have the authority to manage such a reserve, describing the obstacles as obscure legal provisions rather than political opposition. The initiative remains a priority following President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a broader Digital Asset Stockpile that includes other cryptocurrencies, a move that would mark a major milestone if fully implemented.
However, the executive order disappointed many in the Bitcoin community because it limits additions to the reserve to Bitcoin obtained through asset forfeitures and does not allow purchases on the open market. Critics argue this falls short of earlier expectations for active accumulation, and a subsequent digital asset policy report released in July 2025 provided no further clarity, fuelling scepticism. In August 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested budget-neutral methods for acquiring Bitcoin, such as converting other reserve assets or using gains from revalued metals holdings, which briefly revived optimism that direct market purchases could eventually occur. Source
Bitcoin fell sharply during early Asian trading on Monday, dropping about 3.1 percent from roughly 95,385 to 92,415 and triggering more than 865 million in liquidations, most of them from traders holding bullish positions. The move erased part of last week’s gains and pulled the broader crypto market down, with total market capitalization sliding 2.8 percent to about 3.26 trillion and more than 111 billion wiped out since the previous Thursday. Analysts said the sell-off was amplified by thin liquidity as US stock and bond markets were closed for a public holiday, allowing the decline to flush out excess leverage built up during the recent rally.
The downturn was linked to renewed fears of a US–EU trade conflict after President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on multiple European countries over opposition to his plans regarding Greenland, comments echoed by senior US officials ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Market observers said the reaction reflects a broader shift in global risk sentiment rather than problems specific to crypto, with investors becoming more cautious across asset classes. Analysts expect Bitcoin to consolidate in the near term, potentially trading in a narrow range with technical support forming around the mid-80,000 level as macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty continues to dominate market behaviour. Source
Ethereum’s validator exit queue has dropped from a peak of 2.67 million ETH in September 2025 to zero, while the entry queue has climbed to about 2.6 million ETH, the highest level since mid-2023. New validators now face waits of roughly 45 days, whereas exits are processed within minutes, indicating a sharp decline in near-term selling pressure. This shift is reinforcing Ether’s position as a yield-bearing asset and tightening liquid supply, a combination analysts view as supportive of stronger price momentum as queued ETH becomes actively staked.
Institutional participation has been a major driver, attracted by staking yields of around 2.8% annually, with firms such as BitMine Immersion Technologies staking more than 1.25 million ETH. More than 46.5% of the total ETH supply, about 77.85 million ETH, is now locked in the proof-of-stake deposit contract, while total staked ETH stands near 36.1 million, or roughly 29% of supply. Despite these bullish structural trends, ETH trades around 3,300, still below its August 2025 peak of 4,946. Source
DTCC says its approach to tokenized securities will prioritize interoperability rather than locking assets into a single blockchain, even as it moves cautiously due to risk, cybersecurity threats, and data standards. The firm, which processes about $10 trillion in securities transactions daily, views the ability to move assets seamlessly across networks as essential to avoiding fragmentation and unnecessary costs. Its digital assets chief Nadine Chakar emphasized that while existing financial messaging standards may eventually fade, they will help bridge traditional markets and a rapidly expanding landscape of new blockchains.
DTCC plans to begin issuing tokenized securities on Canton Network, a permissioned blockchain designed for financial institutions with controlled access and invite-only validation, before expanding to other platforms such as an Ethereum-compatible permissioned network called AppChain. This strategy has drawn criticism from parts of the crypto industry because the tokens will represent claims on existing securities held by DTCC rather than being issued natively on-chain, reinforcing the firm’s central role through its affiliate Cede & Co., which holds legal title to most U.S. public shares. DTCC executives argue that securities markets are inherently permissioned and that multiple blockchains will be supported over time if they meet standards for security, resilience, and client demand, with the goal of giving customers choice rather than building closed systems. Source
Moving value between blockchains has become dominated by centralized intermediaries, exposing a gap between crypto’s decentralization ideals and how the system actually works in practice. Michael Steuer of Casper Network argues this is a structural outcome of how interoperability has been designed, placing the burden on users to understand networks, wallets and bridges in ways that ordinary consumer technologies never require. This complexity pushes most people toward centralized exchanges and service providers that handle cross-chain transfers, reintroducing risks crypto was meant to avoid. At the same time, bridges have become critical infrastructure, holding large pools of assets and attracting repeated hacks and abuse for money laundering, making them one of the most fragile parts of the ecosystem.
Beyond asset bridges, cross-chain messaging and verification systems are largely controlled by a small group of providers such as Chainlink, LayerZero and Axelar, which decide which networks and protocols can communicate. Steuer says this concentration creates unavoidable chokepoints that limit participation and shift power away from the underlying blockchains, even if the technical challenges of connecting different consensus models partly explain why such systems emerged. Fragmented interoperability also feeds cultural divisions, as users become tied to specific chains and communities, turning networks into competing ecosystems rather than interchangeable infrastructure. Until cross-chain interaction can happen seamlessly without forcing users to manage technical details or rely on centralized gatekeepers, decentralization will remain confined to protocol design while coordination and control concentrate elsewhere. Source
Markethive positions its platform as an integrated digital marketing ecosystem built around organic reach and transparency, avoiding algorithmic filtering, content suppression, or shadow banning. Every post is delivered to all friends and group members by default, ensuring full visibility without paid promotion. Within this environment, the Boost and the upcoming Push systems are designed to extend reach further across the network. The Push feature will display messages to all newly registered users during onboarding, guaranteeing immediate exposure and enabling businesses to introduce products, communities, or resources from the moment members join. The Boost system expands this concept to the wider user base by placing selected posts directly into the news feeds of all targeted members, bypassing traditional platform bottlenecks and ensuring that important announcements, launches, or updates are seen.
The Boost currently allows posts to appear across the entire membership for a flat launch fee of $20 for free users and $10 for upgraded Entrepreneur One members, with future plans for more granular targeting by location, activity level, hashtags, or keywords. Both tools are part of a broader subscription-based revenue model intended to fund continued platform development, advanced features such as crypto exchange listings, a peer-to-peer marketplace, and marketing automation, as well as long-term initiatives like ILP interest payouts. Markethive is also offering various ways for members to financially support growth, including E1 subscriptions and direct ILP participation, framing contributions as a stake in the platform’s future. The company presents the Boost and Push not only as marketing tools but as foundational components of a larger strategy to build a sustainable, entrepreneur-focused social commerce network. Source
The White House said that nearly 6.4 million dollars in Bitcoin seized from Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill has not been sold and will instead be added to the federal government’s strategic Bitcoin reserve created by executive order in March. This clarification followed concerns from the developers’ lawyers and families that prosecutors in New York planned to liquidate the assets, citing a signed agreement that appeared to authorize the U.S. Marshals Service to immediately sell the Bitcoin and deposit the proceeds into the asset forfeiture fund. Patrick Witt, head of the president’s Digital Assets Council, said the Department of Justice confirmed the assets were not liquidated and would not be sold.
Rodriguez and Hill pleaded guilty last year to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business tied to Samourai, a privacy-focused Bitcoin tool, and are now serving sentences of five and four years respectively. Their case has drawn attention from cryptocurrency and privacy advocates who fear it could discourage development of privacy software in the United States and has complicated President Trump’s effort to brand himself as supportive of crypto. Although Trump publicly said he would consider a pardon and asked the attorney general to review the case, no clemency has been granted, and prediction markets place low odds on a pardon in the near term. Rodriguez’s wife has said she remains sceptical about the handling of the seized funds despite the White House statement. Source
Michael Saylor hinted at another large Bitcoin acquisition after his company, Strategy, bought 13,627 BTC for about 1.25 billion dollars on Jan. 11, following an earlier purchase of 1,283 BTC for roughly 116 million dollars on Jan. 4. He posted a chart of Bitcoin’s price and Strategy’s past buying points with the caption “Bigger Orange,” a phrase he has repeatedly used to signal upcoming purchases. The company has now acquired 14,910 BTC since the start of the year and holds a total of 687,410 BTC at an average price of 75,353 dollars per coin, leaving its Bitcoin reserve in profit with the current market price above 92,000 dollars.
Despite the strong performance of its Bitcoin holdings, Strategy’s stock has fallen about 52.7% over the past year to around 173.71 dollars, and the company faces significant future obligations from convertible debt issued to fund its buying strategy. Starting in late 2027 and 2028, holders of billions of dollars in notes will be able to convert them, which could force the company to raise substantial capital. Strategy has said it has sufficient resources to manage this and has acknowledged it could sell part of its Bitcoin holdings if necessary to meet those obligations. Source
Binance Australia has reopened direct Australian dollar deposits and withdrawals, allowing users to transfer funds via PayID and bank transfer for the first time since mid-2023. The platform had been limited to debit and credit card funding after local banking channels were cut, restricting transaction flexibility and raising costs for customers. The restoration of real-time payments follows a phased rollout and is supported by Bolt Financial Group, an Australian fintech providing payments and banking infrastructure. The move improves Binance’s parity with competitors and removes a significant barrier that had constrained user activity and market share in Australia.
The reopening comes after a period of regulatory scrutiny, including civil penalty proceedings from ASIC over misclassification of retail clients in Binance’s derivatives business, and AUSTRAC-mandated audits citing gaps in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls. Binance Australia’s management emphasized that access to traditional banking services is critical for market confidence and adoption, while surveys show users continue to prioritize unrestricted fiat on and off-ramps. The renewed banking functionality is expected to support growth in the country’s digital asset ecosystem and restore operational flexibility for investors and the exchange. Source
Cybersecurity experts warn that travelers using public WiFi, particularly at airports, cafes, hotels, and other high-traffic areas, can fall victim to “Evil Twin” attacks, where hackers clone legitimate networks to intercept data or steal sensitive information. While simply connecting to such a network does not automatically compromise crypto assets, entering private keys, seed phrases, or exchange credentials while connected can allow attackers to drain accounts. Fake login pages, prompts to install software, or requests for seed phrases are common tactics used in these attacks, making social engineering the primary risk rather than technical hacking of encryption.
To protect crypto while traveling, experts recommend avoiding major transactions on public networks, using personal mobile hotspots or private networks, disabling auto-connect on devices, and employing a trusted VPN if public WiFi is the only option. Users should verify network legitimacy with staff, manually type exchange addresses rather than clicking links, and keep seed phrases offline at all times. For additional security, travelers can maintain a separate travel wallet with limited funds and a small unconnected hot wallet for daily use, reducing potential losses if devices are compromised or scams occur. Source
Ethereum is experiencing unprecedented transaction activity, with daily transactions reaching new highs while fees have dropped to levels not seen in years. Recent data shows daily transactions have risen 14% over the past two weeks, from 1.8 million to 2.1 million, driven largely by stablecoin transfers, especially Tether’s USDT. Improvements in Ethereum’s modular scaling, including the EIP-4844 upgrade, have enabled more efficient data handling on Layer 2 networks, lowering costs while maintaining verifiability. This combination of higher usage and lower fees reflects the network’s operational stability and growing integration into mainstream payment systems.
Staking activity remains strong, with roughly 30% of all Ether staked and the validator exit queue at zero, indicating confidence and balance in the network’s incentives. Validator exits have fallen from previous highs, while new staking entries are near their highest levels since mid-2023. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has cautioned that long-term health depends on avoiding protocol bloat, emphasizing simplicity alongside scaling. The network’s current performance demonstrates sustainable scalability, but maintaining this requires careful optimization and management of complexity to ensure resilience and adaptability. Source
Vitalik Buterin’s “walkaway test” is designed to measure Ethereum’s long-term credibility by assessing whether the network can remain secure and functional even if its core developers stop actively upgrading it. The concept envisions Ethereum as a durable tool rather than a service that deteriorates without ongoing intervention, aiming for a state where the protocol could “ossify” while still delivering its core promise. Key criteria include full quantum resistance, a scalable transaction architecture, a future-proof state structure, account abstraction, robust gas schedules, decentralized proof-of-stake economics, and censorship-resistant block-building mechanisms. The goal is for Ethereum’s value proposition to rely on features already in the protocol rather than on promised or speculative upgrades, ensuring the network remains reliable and trust-minimized over decades.
Quantum readiness is central to this vision because post-quantum cryptography transitions are slow, often taking decades from standardization to broad deployment, and Ethereum must be able to adopt new signature schemes without disrupting usability. Account abstraction plays a critical role, enabling flexible transaction validation and gradual adoption of post-quantum signatures across accounts and validators without a single “flag day” migration. This ensures that Ethereum’s cryptographic assumptions can evolve safely while maintaining user and infrastructure compatibility. Ultimately, the walkaway test and quantum readiness together measure whether Ethereum can sustain its security and functionality independently, preserving credibility and resilience even in the absence of continual developer intervention. Source
The Trump family’s cryptocurrency ventures, led by the Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin, have created significant controversy and regulatory uncertainty in their first year. TRUMP, launched on Solana just before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, briefly reached a $10 billion market cap before falling roughly 93% to trade near $5, with a market cap of nearly $991 million. The token’s launch, alongside other family ventures such as World Liberty Financial and the MELANIA token, has generated over $1 billion in profits, raising conflict-of-interest concerns as the president and his family continue to profit from crypto holdings while in office. Critics argue that these activities have distracted lawmakers and complicated the legislative process for crypto regulation, including delaying the passage of the stablecoin GENIUS Act.
Political backlash has intensified, with Democratic leaders introducing legislation to limit the president’s involvement in crypto. Rep. Maxine Waters proposed the “Stop TRUMP in Crypto Act of 2025” to prevent the president and family members from owning or profiting from digital assets while holding office. World Liberty Financial’s expansion into lending platforms and high-profile private events for top TRUMP holders has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and public protests, with accusations of corruption and ethical violations. Despite the controversies, the Trump family’s crypto holdings have continued to grow, highlighting tensions between political influence, personal profit, and the broader effort to regulate the rapidly evolving crypto sector. Source
Senate Judiciary leaders are pushing to remove protections for crypto developers from the proposed market structure bill, arguing that the provisions would undermine enforcement of unlicensed money transmitting laws. Chair Charles Grassley and top Democrat Richard Durbin warned that exempting software development and network maintenance could create enforcement gaps, making it harder to prosecute illicit actors such as cartels and other sophisticated criminal organizations. The draft bill, which incorporates elements of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, aims to clarify that building crypto networks or software does not constitute money transmission, but Judiciary leaders say they were not consulted and that the language could weaken accountability for illegal activity.
The pushback adds another complication to the Senate effort to regulate crypto, following delays in committee markups as lawmakers sought bipartisan support. The bill must pass both the Banking and Agriculture Committees before reaching the Senate floor, where it will need 60 votes to clear, likely requiring support from some Democrats. Major crypto lobbyists, including Coinbase, have pulled backing over contentious provisions, though negotiations continue. The debate highlights ongoing tension between protecting innovation in decentralized finance and ensuring regulators can address criminal activity on digital asset platforms. Source
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
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