Crypto whales are reaching for gold as Bitcoin stalls, but the trade may be less of a verdict on crypto than a hedge for a specific macro window. On Jan. 27, blockchain sleuth Lookonchain flagged three addresses that collectively withdrew about $14.33 million in tokenized gold from centralized exchanges, including Bybit, Gate, and MEXC. The […]
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While Circle's USDC has operated without a "credible domestic competitor," Tether's USAT has the potential to shake up the landscape, analysts said.
OpenAI launches Prism, a GPT5.2-powered scientific writing tool aimed at streamlining research collaboration and workflows.
The post OpenAI launches Prism, a free LaTeX-native AI workspace powered by GPT‑5.2 appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Some NFTs minted in 2021 or earlier rely on metadata tied to Nifty Gateway’s own servers, which the company says it will continue to host.
The Ethereum price has struggled to regain momentum amid a persistent downtrend. After closing the last four months in the red, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency is showing no signs of relief in January 2026. On-chain data shows that Ethereum’s current trajectory mirrors past cycle downturns, raising the possibility of further price declines and prolonged bearish sentiment. Ethereum Price Nears Fifth Consecutive Month Of Losses Ethereum has been in a prolonged slump, marking its fourth straight month of losses in 2025. As the market navigates the final week of January, the cryptocurrency is poised to potentially close a fifth consecutive month in the red, a streak that would reinforce the ongoing bearish trend. Related Reading: Analyst Says You’re Not Bullish Enough On Ethereum – What Does He Mean? On-chain data from CryptoRank shows that throughout 2025, Ethereum saw more red months than green ones. The cryptocurrency began the year with four consecutive months of decline from January to April, followed by a brief recovery in May, only to fall again in June. After this, ETH posted two months of gains, finishing July and August in the green. However, this recovery was short-lived, and since then, the cryptocurrency has been in a downtrend. During its most recent four-month decline, CryptoRanks reported that Ethereum closed September down by 5.59%. The downtrend accelerated at the end of November, with the cryptocurrency crashing by 22.2%, more than four times the decline of the previous monthly close. December 2025 saw another month in the red, though the drop was much smaller, at just 0.83%. Now, in January 2026, Ethereum is still in a downtrend. On-chain data indicates the cryptocurrency has already fallen 1.78% this month, and shows no sure signs of a bullish reversal. Moreover, at the time of writing, ETH is trading above $2,900, reflecting a roughly 5.95% decline over the past week. What A Red January Could Mean For ETH The last time Ethereum closed five consecutive months in the red was in 2018. That year, Ethereum significantly underperformed, recording gains in only 3 of 12 months. The cryptocurrency had posted continuous monthly losses, with November marking its steepest monthly decline at 42.5%. Related Reading: Ethereum Funding Rates Pushing Towards Negative: What’s Going On? After the four-month closing streak, Ethereum’s downtrend persisted for another two months before experiencing a sharp but brief recovery in December 2018. Despite this temporary rebound, the cryptocurrency closed January 2019 in the red, falling 20%. If history were to repeat itself in the current cycle, Ethereum could end January in a decline, similar to its 2018 performance. Interestingly, historical data shows that February has often been a bullish month for ETH. However, 2025 has seen declines from January through to April; it’s uncertain if Ethereum will follow past bullish patterns. For now, what is certain is that ETH’s price is down and would need a significant boost in its bullish momentum. Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com
The US Marshals Service confirmed “the matter is under investigation” following claims that millions in government-seized crypto was stolen.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has released a new report highlighting a sharp escalation in crypto-based money laundering, warning that Chinese-language money laundering networks are emerging as one of the most serious and rapidly growing threats in the digital asset ecosystem. The Rise of Chinese‑Language Networks In Crypto Crime According to the report, illicit on‑chain money laundering activity has expanded dramatically over the past five years. In 2020, crypto-related laundering was estimated to be around $10 billion. By 2025, that figure had climbed to more than $82 billion. A key driver behind this growth has been the rapid rise of Chinese‑language money laundering networks, often referred to as CMLNs. In 2025, these networks accounted for roughly 20% of all identified illicit crypto laundering activity on‑chain. Related Reading: XRP Outlook For 2026: AI Model Signals New Record Ahead — Can Price Reach $6? Chainalysis noted that this regional concentration is further supported by off‑ramping behavior observed on the blockchain. As detailed in the report, CMLNs now routinely launder more than 10% of funds stolen through so‑called “pig butchering” scams. The pace at which these networks have grown stands out even within the broader crypto crime landscape. Since 2020, inflows to identified CMLNs have increased 7,325 times faster than those to centralized exchanges (CEXs). Growth has also outstripped other laundering channels, expanding 1,810 times faster than decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and 2,190 times faster than illicit on‑chain flows that remain within criminal ecosystems. While CMLNs are not the only actors involved in crypto laundering, Chainalysis found that Chinese‑language, Telegram‑based services now represent a disproportionately large share of attributed global laundering activity. Cross‑Border Crime At Scale The report also shows that CMLNs function openly across multiple platforms and rely on complex, multi‑layered systems. Their operations are characterized by industrial‑level processing capacity and a high degree of technical sophistication. In 2025 alone, Chainalysis identified six distinct service types that together form the CMLN ecosystem. Combined, these services processed $16.1 billion in illicit inflows during the year. The number of active entities within these networks has also grown rapidly, expanding from a small number of wallets just a few years ago to more than 1,799 active on‑chain wallets in 2025. Related Reading: Tether Reveals Massive Gold Accumulation In Q4: Adds 27 Tons To Reserves Tom Keatinge, Director at the Centre for Finance & Security at the Royal United Services Institute, said the speed and scale of these networks are the result of converging global forces. He noted that Chinese money laundering networks have rapidly evolved into “multi‑billion‑dollar cross‑border operations” offering efficient and competitively priced services to organized crime groups across Europe and North America. Chris Urben, Managing Director at Nardello & Co, highlighted another major shift within these networks. He explained that Chinese money laundering groups have increasingly moved away from informal value transfer systems, such as traditional underground banking methods. Instead, Urben emphasized that these criminals have embraced cryptocurrencies as a “faster and more discreet way” to move funds across borders, eliminating the need for complex manual ledgers spread across multiple jurisdictions. Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
AI data center expansion is facing growing local opposition over power, infrastructure and costs, echoing the resistance that once slowed Bitcoin mining.
The increased pursuit of federal charters by crypto firms signals a shift towards integrating digital assets into mainstream financial systems.
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The president said he isn't concerned about the dollar's recent declines, sending the greenback plunging even lower.
Despite Bitcoin trading about 12% lower than a year ago, corporate accumulation shows no sign of slowing in 2026.
Data shows February tends to be one of BTC’s best performing months, leading Bitcoin network economist Timothy Peterson to dub it the real “Uptober” event. Will history repeat itself next month?
Anthropic is set to raise $20 billion in its latest funding round, double the amount it initially targeted, according to the FT.
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ethereum, appears to have quietly crossed an important critical threshold that has historically signaled major price expansions. While the Ethereum price action may still appear calm on the surface, underlying market structure and flow dynamics suggest a meaningful shift is underway. This type of transition typically occurs when accumulation replaces distribution, volatility compresses, and smart money positions ahead of broader market recognition. A Silent Shift That Usually Comes Before Violent Expansion Ethereum just crossed a quiet but massive threshold. Trader and investor Shuarix has mentioned on X that Zama has gone live with the first fully encrypted Initial Coin Offering (ICO) ever executed on the ETH mainnet, moving a confidential USDT and running a sealed-bid Dutch auction entirely on encrypted data. Related Reading: Ethereum Gains Institutional Support, Though ETH Price Outlook Remains Contested In just 3 days, more than $118 million was committed, over $100 million was shielded, and the auction was 218% oversubscribed with more than 11,000 verified bidders. At peak activity, the Zama application became the most-used app on ETH, surpassing both USDT and Uniswap during the event, with zero downtime and full ETH-level throughout. Crypto analyst Milk Road revealed that BitMine Immersion Technologies has made a large purchase of 40,302 ETH in a single move, which brings their total stack holdings to a massive 4,243,338 ETH, worth over $12.3 billion at the current price. In perspective, the company now controls 3.52% of the entire ETH circulating supply, and they’re not just letting it sit idle. According to Milk Road, BitMine has over 2 million ETH tokens already staked, generating $180 million in annualized rewards. This means the company is not just playing the buy-and-hold game, but compounding its position at scale, which is all well and good for BitMine. Meanwhile, this sustained buying pressure will help create a price floor for the long-term ETH holders. Furthermore, this move is the type of institutional accumulation that will keep ETH moving inside its ascending channel. Thus, this will help to pull the price back into that channel after the macro shocks temporarily push it out. “Below is the 2025 tariff shock. While the headlines try to muddy your view of things, this chart will tell the real story,” Milk Road noted. Accumulation Continues Despite Price Being Near Entry Levels The realized price of the Ethereum accumulation address is acting as a major support level. A crypto investor known as CW has also pointed out that ETH has only reached this realized price once in history, which is very similar to the current price range. Related Reading: Ethereum Stalls In A Critical Zone As Breakout Structures Wait For Confirmation However, the whale’s purchase price for ETH is not significantly different from the current price. Despite that, their ETH accumulation is increasing, indicating that whales still view the current price as fair value. This shows that they are preparing for an upward trend. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
Bitcoin’s 2026 problem is the weekend I keep coming back to this line because it feels brutally true in the way only markets can be true. The only thing worse than buying Bitcoin this year was not buying Bitcoin. If you held dollars, you got quietly taxed. The dollar has been sliding, and the mood […]
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The state representative introduced similar legislation shortly after taking office in 2025, but the bill was deferred and not signed into law.
Zora's content coin mechanism enables near-zero-cost token deployment, allowing creators to mint tokens with minimal friction.
Prediction markets on the BNB Chain have seen massive growth over the past months, with the leading platforms within the ecosystem reaching remarkable levels and their cumulative trading volume hitting a new milestone. Related Reading: Bitcoin Price At Risk Of 50% Correction As BTC’s 2022 Bearish Playbook Repeats BNB Chain Sees Prediction Markets Explosion On Monday, BNB Chain announced that prediction markets in the ecosystem reached a new milestone, surpassing the $20.91 billion mark in cumulative trading volume over the weekend. Notably, the BNB Chain has expanded its presence over the past few months, diversifying with key players such as Opinion Labs, Probable, Myriad Markets, Predict.Fun, and XO Markets. Prediction markets are one of the most popular ways to forecast events and manage risk at scale, the BNB Chain explained in a blog post, becoming “powerful tools for smarter decisions in finance, governance, and beyond.” “From elections and sports to AI milestones and macroeconomic shifts, prediction markets transform scattered knowledge into actionable signals. Platforms like Polymarket, which saw over $2B in volume in October 2024, prove that decentralized markets can even outperform centralized forecasters,” they added. According to Dune data, prediction markets within the ecosystem have seen a significant surge since Q4, increasing nearly 89% just in the past month. The data also shows that BNB Chain has taken the lead in weekly trading volume by chain, surpassing off-chain prediction markets, Polygon, Solana, and Base since the start of 2026. Moreover, DeFiLlama data indicate that three platforms in the BNB ecosystem are currently among the top 5 prediction markets, only behind Kalshi and Polymarket, signaling increasing adoption. Opinion Labs ranks third in the list, with its 7-day and 30-day trading volumes reaching $725.56 million and $3.35 billion, respectively. Meanwhile, its open interest exceeded $144 million as of late January. Probable has seen $558 million in volume over the past 7 days and $1.05 billion in the last 30 days. The platform has also reached a $1.4 billion in notional volume and over 17,000 users just a month after its launch. ETF Push And Price Recovery The recent milestone comes as major institutional players share interest in the BNB token. Last week, Grayscale filed an S-1 form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a spot Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) based on the cryptocurrency. If approved, the Grayscale BNB Trust (GBNB) will “reflect the value of BNB held by the Trust, including BNB earned as Staking Consideration” and offer investors exposure to the token without having to hold it directly. As of this writing, BNB’s price has recovered from Sunday’s correction and is attempting to turn a key area back into support. Market observer Rose Premium Signals highlighted that the cryptocurrency bounced from the strong $860 demand zone after the sharp corrective move. Related Reading: Bitcoin Confirms Bearish Structure After $98,000 Rejection — Here’s The Next Potential Target Moreover, it held the key Fibonacci retracement area, “which increases the probability of a bullish reaction.” If the altcoin successfully reclaims the $900 area as support, the analyst suggested that a retest of the $937 and $980 targets could follow. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
If approved, the move would let the company bypass state-by-state licensing and offer federally regulated crypto trading without taking deposits.
Mesh, which lets businesses take crypto payments across networks, added $75 million to its war chest, achieving “unicorn” status in the process.
Rising Ethereum layer-2 activity and a notable bump in network fees may be an early sign that ETH is on the verge of a recovery.
The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.
For over a decade, Ripple and its executives have been steadily dumping XRP into the open market. Because XRP was fully created at launch, every token sold came from a known and finite supply. By comparing the original allocations from 2012 with current on-chain holdings, it is now possible to calculate how much XRP Ripple and its executives have offloaded so far. How XRP Was Allocated And Where The Tokens Went XRP was launched in 2012 with a fixed supply of 100 billion XRP, all created at once on the XRP Ledger. There has never been mining, staking, or inflation. Of that total supply, 80 billion XRP were transferred to the company that later became Ripple, while the remaining 20 billion XRP were allocated to founders and early insiders. The core individuals involved at launch were Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto, and David Schwartz. Related Reading: Coinbase Exec Points Out The Big Difference Between Bitcoin And Central Banks More than a decade later, the remaining holdings of Ripple and its executives provide a clear benchmark for calculating how much XRP has been sold. Combined, Ripple and named executives currently control about 41.485 billion XRP. Ripple itself holds approximately 37.685 billion XRP, split between 3.5 billion XRP in wallets that can be accessed directly and 34.185 billion XRP locked in escrow. Among executives, Chris Larsen, Ripple’s chairman, holds about 2.5 billion XRP across eight wallets, while Arthur Britto controls roughly 1.3 billion XRP spread across seven wallets. David Schwartz, despite being a co-founder, holds a significantly smaller amount, peaking historically at around 26 million XRP, far below the multi-billion-token balances of other insiders. When current holdings are subtracted from the original allocations, the numbers indicate that Ripple and its executives have sold or distributed approximately 58.515 billion XRP since 2012. What Those Sales Mean In Price And Market Terms The scale of these sales often raises concerns about long-term price pressure, but timing is critical. XRP’s earliest recorded market price was approximately $0.00587 in August 2013. Today, it trades near $1.88, reflecting a remarkable increase of roughly 31,756% over that period. These gains unfolded even as billions of XRP entered circulation gradually rather than in sudden waves. In 2017, Ripple implemented an escrow system that locked up 55 billion XRP, allowing up to 1 billion XRP to be released each month. Any unused portion is returned to escrow, effectively limiting unexpected supply shocks. As of 2026, 34.185 billion XRP remain locked under this system. Related Reading: Bitcoin Price Prediction: Analyst Forecasts 72.86% Crash To $30,000 Cumulatively, the 58.515 billion XRP sold over 13 years would be valued at approximately $109 billion at today’s prices. These sales occurred alongside ongoing ecosystem development, legal challenges, and multiple market cycles, highlighting that distribution happened in a managed, phased manner. Overall, while Ripple and its executives have distributed a significant portion of their holdings, the careful, escrow-managed approach over more than a decade coincided with sustained price appreciation. This suggests that strategic, phased selling has not undermined XRP’s long-term market growth. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
Anthropic targets a $20B raise, doubling its goal amid surging investor demand, securing a $350B valuation led by GIC and Coatue.
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The asset manager argued that without federal legislation, the industry has three years to become indispensable before political winds potentially shift.
Laser Digital’s application places it alongside a growing group of crypto firms seeking federal trust bank status in the US.
Coinbase tests USDF stablecoin on exchange backend, an early step in its broader digital dollar strategy amid growing stablecoin adoption.
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The US investigation into Venezuela's crypto ties could reshape global perceptions of digital asset use in geopolitical finance.
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Four in 10 surveyed merchants already accept crypto at checkout, with roughly three-quarters reporting an increase in crypto sales last year.
Vitalik Buterin said he no longer agrees with his 2017 tweet that downplayed the need for users to personally verify Ethereum end-to-end. This week, he argued the network should treat self-hosted verification as a non-negotiable escape hatch as its architecture gets lighter and more modular. Buterin’s original position grew out of a design debate over […]
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