MarketWhisper

Trump threatens to impose tariffs on 8 countries opposing the Greenland purchase, Bitcoin crashes nearly $92,000 on Monday, and Nasdaq futures drop 1.2%. The daily chart shows a rising wedge pattern indicating bearishness, RSI fails to break above the mid-range, and a break below the wedge lower boundary targets $84,000-$80,000. Glassnode data shows that entities holding over 100,000 BTC are reducing their holdings, while medium-sized holders are buying the dip.

China-led mBridge has completed over 4,000 cross-border transactions, totaling $55.5 billion, a 2,500-fold increase compared to 2022, with digital yuan settlements accounting for 95%. Participants include the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

Richard Heart, founder of HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX, beat SEC fraud charges in April 2025 after a federal judge dismissed the $1B unregistered securities case for lack of jurisdiction. Despite Interpol red notice for tax fraud and assault, Richard Heart won complete victory when SEC declined to amend its complaint.

NFT games are blockchain games that allow ownership and profit from unique virtual items. After the 2021 boom with Axie Infinity generating income in the Philippines, the market crashed in 2022-2023. In 2026, NFT games like Axie and Illuvium remain active but with lower volumes and realistic expectations.

Wall Street firms like DRW and Susquehanna are hiring prediction market traders at $200K salaries, ending retail arbitrage opportunities on Polymarket and Kalshi. Monthly volume surged from $100M to $8B, mirroring how e-commerce retail arbitrage evolved from profitable individual flipping to algorithm-dominated professional operations.

Germany's second-largest bank DZ was approved by MiCAR on January 14th to launch the "meinKrypto" platform within its banking app, managing €1.2 trillion in assets integrated into 700 bank networks, supporting BTC, ETH, LTC, and ADA. 71% of banks are considering following suit, with Germany leading Europe with $58.9 million in capital inflows.

Elon Musk on January 6th stated: "I'm only worried about the next 3 to 7 years." He predicts that by 2026, AI will surpass humans, and within 3 years, Optimus will outperform top doctors. By 2029, AI will surpass all humans. White-collar jobs will be replaced first, while blue-collar workers will hold out until robot mass production. He praised China's energy infrastructure, saying it outperforms the United States, and warned not to rely on retirement funds. In the future, the only AGI players will be xAI, Google, and China.

Sociologist Zhao Dingxin revealed that the University of Chicago lost money on crypto trading, with financial reports showing a loss of $19 million in 2021-2022 (not the rumored 6 billion). Harvard holds a $160 million BTC ETF, Yale is布局 through a16z, and the University of Chicago's annualized return of 7.48% is far below the stock market, with liberal arts becoming the scapegoat for financial losses.

The Kaito project was launched in 2022, and in 2024, the Yaps product was introduced to encourage users to publish Web3 content and earn rewards, packaged as an InfoFi concept. However, the X product manager announced a ban on such products and blocked the API, causing KAITO's price to plummet to $0.49. The project team was aware in advance and secretly shipped $2.82 million worth of tokens. The market cap peaked at $500 million, with a circulating market cap of $150 million.

Netflix releases the crypto comedy "One Attempt Remaining" to turn around crime narratives, but director Viviane Ford criticizes the crypto scene as "deserved," questioning how hype around PEPE meme coins and Lamborghini Dogecoin culture has made crypto a disliked topic among the public. The FTX collapse further reinforced the gambling image.

Just after getting off the plane and connecting to the airport's free WiFi, your wallet was emptied hours later? You might have fallen victim to an "Evil Twin" attack—hackers clone legitimate WiFi networks to trick users into connecting and stealing data. Australian police have prosecuted cases of fake airport WiFi. Halborn states that airports and cafes are the most common targets, where hackers use fake login pages to steal seed phrases. Protection tips: use mobile hotspots, VPN encryption, manually verify networks, and adopt a three-layer wallet structure.

Vanguard's first investment in Bitcoin Treasury Company, gaining Bitcoin exposure indirectly through the purchase of $505 million worth of MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock. This global second-largest fund, managing nearly $12 trillion in assets, has historically avoided direct investment in cryptocurrencies. This time, entering the Bitcoin space through MSTR stock marks a significant shift in institutional attitudes toward Bitcoin.

CME announces the launch of ADA, LINK, and XLM futures, going live on February 9, seen as a milestone towards U.S. spot ETFs. Offering standard and micro contracts, with 100,000 ADA for standard, 5,000 LINK for standard, and 250,000 XLM for standard. Historically, both Bitcoin and Ethereum first established futures markets before ETF approval.

ZachXBT exposes the largest personal theft in history, with victims losing $282 million due to social engineering scams. Hackers converted the stolen funds into Monero for money laundering, causing the price to surge from $450 to $797.73, an 80% increase reaching a new high. The contradiction of increased demand for privacy coins amid tighter regulations is highlighted.

Spouse holds a large amount of Bitcoin, and divorce may result in "not getting a single cent." The UK passed the Digital Asset Property Law in December 2025 to recognize it as personal property, while Taiwan's legal system is still in the research and discussion stage. The Legislative Yuan's Legal Affairs Bureau calls for referencing UK legislation. Chainalysis estimates Taiwan's annual transaction volume to reach 55 billion USD, with the total market value of virtual assets approximately 3.9 trillion USD.

Bitcoin currently underperforms precious metals, with gold reaching a record high while BTC remains range-bound. However, this divergence between Bitcoin and precious metals has occurred before every major cryptocurrency breakthrough since 2019. Declining real yields have driven gold and copper prices higher, with the market pricing in liquidity easing before the Federal Reserve officially cuts interest rates. History shows that Bitcoin reacts more slowly, but once liquidity signals stabilize, its gains tend to be more dramatic.

In mid-January, Bitcoin options open interest reached $74.1 billion, surpassing futures for the first time at $65.22 billion, marking a shift from directional leverage to structured exposure. Institutions hedge and layer income through options, while retail investors still rely on futures leverage. ETF options are changing market dynamics, with the US stock trading hours leaning towards the stock market, while non-trading hours maintain the native characteristics of cryptocurrencies.

Pi Network launches developer payment library, supporting over 100 community tokens. Developers can integrate Pi payment functionality within 10 minutes. Philippine stores, including pharmacies, have started accepting Pi as a partial payment method, with full real-time payment functionality to be launched in 2026. Pi Network is transforming from a mobile mining platform into a practical blockchain.

January 19, XRP declined for the fifth consecutive day, breaking below the $2 psychological level and approaching the $1.85 support. Trump imposed a 10% tariff on 8 European countries (raised to 25% in June), coupled with the delay of the Market Structure Bill by the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, both negative factors hitting the market. Despite short-term pressure, spot ETF demand remains strong, with a medium-term target of $3.00 and a long-term target of $3.66.

Aster launched its strategic buyback mechanism on January 19, with 20%-40% of the platform's daily transaction fees dynamically used for market repurchases, verifiable on-chain. LunarCrush data shows that Aster ranks second in social activity among derivative project communities, only behind Hyperliquid.