PA Morning Report | US Core CPI Year-over-Year Below Expectations; Bitcoin Briefly Surges Above $96,500

Arthur Hayes: The core Degen strategy this quarter is to go long on MSTR and Metaplanet

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes posted on X that his latest article, “Frowny Cloud,” will be released tomorrow. For this quarter, his core Degen strategy is to go long on MSTR and 3350 (Metaplanet), viewing them as leveraged bets on Bitcoin regaining upward momentum.

A whale today exchanged 282.1 BTC for 8,098 ETH, still holding 646.5 BTC

According to on-chain analyst Yu Yan monitoring, a whale/organization is shifting positions from BTC to ETH. Today, using the cross-chain exchange tool THORChain, they swapped 282.1 BTC (worth $26.33 million) for 8,098 ETH at an exchange rate of about $3,251 per ETH. They still hold 646.5 BTC (worth $61.68 million), and are likely to continue such rebalancing operations.

Coinbase International Exchange will undergo system maintenance on January 25, with an estimated downtime of 3 hours

According to official announcement, Coinbase International Exchange will conduct system maintenance around 01:00 on January 25, 2026 (UTC+8), during which services will be temporarily suspended. The maintenance is expected to last 3 hours. During this period, all trading and transfer functions on Coinbase International Exchange will be unavailable.

Bitmine stakes an additional 94,400 ETH, worth $314 million

Onchain Lens monitoring shows that Bitmine has further staked 94,400 ETH (worth $314 million). To date, they have staked a total of 1,530,784 ETH, valued at $5.1 billion.

After CPI release, the probability of Fed rate cut in April rises to 42%

According to Reuters, traders increased bets on the Federal Reserve possibly not waiting until May to cut rates, after the US Labor Department reported that core consumer prices rose slightly below expectations. While traders still see June as the most likely rate cut, the latest data forecast the probability of a rate cut in April at about 42%, up from 38% before the data release.

Berachain Foundation: Most retail marketing team has been disbanded; Chief Developer Alberto to leave

In its year-end update for 2025, Berachain Foundation disclosed that it has disbanded most of its retail-focused marketing team. Since October 10, 2024, and throughout 2024/2025, retail strategies have been ineffective across the crypto space; resources are being reallocated to focus on fundamentals. Additionally, one of its chief developers, Alberto, will leave to co-found a Web2 company with former banking colleagues. Future plans include focusing the active team on 3-5 high-confidence applications, emphasizing companies with less reliance on crypto market fundamentals and minimal overlap with existing Berachain ecosystem projects. These will receive dedicated PoL emission support and close involvement from the Berachain team.

“Strategy counterparty” closed a $413 million long position 1 hour ago, locking in $14.5 million profit

According to Lookonchain, “Strategy counterparty” closed a long position worth $413 million an hour ago, locking in $14.5 million profit. Details: Closed 2,453.62 BTC (worth $234.23 million) — profit of $7.06 million; closed 31,256 ETH (worth $103.87 million) — profit of $5.4 million; closed 493,330 SOL (worth $71.75 million) — profit of $1.96 million; closed 41,916 HYPE (worth $1.07 million) — profit of $67,000; closed 924,687 XR (worth $2.01 million) — profit of $9,500.

Lighter announces launch of mobile app

According to official news, Lighter has launched the Lighter Mobile app, allowing users to trade perpetual contracts, spot, real-world assets (RWAs), and more on iOS (available in over 100 countries/regions) and Android devices.

Crypto exchange ProBit Global to terminate all services on February 26, urges users to withdraw promptly

According to official announcement, ProBit Global announced on December 31, 2025, that due to rapidly changing regulatory environment and strategic restructuring, all platform services will officially end starting February 26, 2026, at 08:00 (UTC+8). Spot trading will cease on January 28, 2026, at 08:00 (UTC+8), and standard withdrawal services will remain open until February 26, 2026, at 07:59 (UTC+8). Users are strongly urged to complete withdrawals before this deadline to avoid potential asset loss or management fees. The delayed asset return period is from March 1, 2026, 08:00 to April 1, 2026, 07:59. Assets not withdrawn by the end of the standard withdrawal period will be considered abandoned, and remaining assets will incur maintenance fees to cover infrastructure and custody costs, starting strictly from March 1, 2026, 08:00. According to the terms of service, any assets not withdrawn before April 1, 2026, 07:59 will be deemed forfeited and permanently lost.

Ethena plans to promote USDe adoption through gasless Ethereum transactions and 10x reward bonuses

According to The Block, the Safe Foundation announced on Tuesday a strategic partnership with Ethena Labs, the issuer of USDe, aiming to reduce gas costs for USDe transactions on Ethereum mainnet and enhance reward point accrual for USDe stored in Safe multisig wallets. Safe accounts holding USDe will now receive 10 times the accumulated points during the “current Ethena points program.” The two companies stated, “This partnership marks a broader strategic move by Safe to transition the stablecoin economy toward autonomous custody, establishing Safe self-custody wallets as the preferred platform for accessing Ethena products.”

Whale Garrett Jin: Ethereum has re-entered the fifth wave of the upward channel starting from April last year, target at $5413

Suspected “1011 insider whale” Garrett Jin posted on X that: “Ethereum’s C wave decline started on October 10 last year. The overall downtrend was halted around November 20, and the fifth wave decline failed on December 18, indicating trend momentum exhaustion. We believe Ethereum has re-entered the fifth wave of the upward channel that began last April. The target levels are as follows: Target 1: $5413; Aggressive target 2: $7155.”

A whale sold 264.8 WBTC at a loss of $5.15 million, still holding $13.49 million worth of XAUt and PAXG

According to on-chain analyst Yu Yan, a whale betting $42.42 million on “digital gold” and “real gold” sold off “digital gold” after Bitcoin rose today. They transferred 264.8 WBTC (worth $25 million) bought at $113,262 each in late October for $30 million, incurring a loss of $5.15 million. After cutting losses on “digital gold” BTC, they still hold $13.49 million worth of real gold (XAUt and PAXG), with an average price of $4,239, currently with an unrealized profit of $1.07 million.

French regulator warns that nearly one-third of crypto firms in France have not responded as EU license application deadline approaches

According to Reuters, France’s market regulator warned on Tuesday that about one-third of the approximately 90 registered crypto companies in France that have not obtained a MiCA license have yet to inform regulators of their plans, as the transition period for the EU’s new crypto regulation approaches its end on June 30 this year. Stéphane Pontoizeau, director of the AMF’s Market Intermediaries and Infrastructure Supervision, said that as of now, 30% of companies have applied for licenses, 40% have decided not to apply, and the remaining 30% have not communicated or responded to regulatory inquiries, which is concerning. Under ESMA’s requirements, unlicensed companies must implement an “orderly wind-down plan” before the transition ends. Previously, Coinbase, Circle, Revolut, and others have obtained MiCA licenses.

A whale with nearly $30 million in WBTC appears to have liquidated, with an estimated loss of $5.08 million

According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, a WBTC whale with a position built with nearly $30 million appears to have liquidated. Address 0x8C0…0F364 bought 264.86 WBTC at an average of $113,012.84 between October 22 and October 26, 2025, during the first rebound after Bitcoin hit a record high and then retreated. After three months, four hours ago, during the upward move, they transferred all tokens to Binance at a price of $93,823, which would result in a loss of $5.08 million if sold.

Russian State Duma official: Bill to exempt cryptocurrencies from special financial regulation is ready

According to TASS, Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Russian State Duma Financial Market Committee, stated that a bill to remove cryptocurrencies from the special financial regulation framework is ready, which would make cryptocurrencies a common payment tool for Russian citizens. Aksakov noted that the bill would allow non-qualified investors to purchase cryptocurrencies with a cap of 300,000 rubles; professional financial market participants could operate without restrictions. Additionally, cryptocurrencies could be used for international settlements and circulated in other countries’ financial markets after issuance in Russia. He said the Duma will focus on legislation related to digital financial assets and cryptocurrencies at the upcoming spring session.

Circle has minted another 1 billion USDC on Solana in the past 8 hours

According to Onchain Lens, Circle has minted another 1 billion USDC on Solana in the past 8 hours. To date, Circle has minted a total of 4.25 billion USDC on Solana in 2026.

Zama to launch token sale via CoinList and its own auction app, FDV floor at $55 million

According to The Block, privacy protocol Zama will launch an on-chain token sale with a minimum FDV of $55 million via CoinList and its own auction app, using a sealed-bid Dutch auction structure, distributing 12% of its total supply of 11 billion tokens. The 12% sale is divided into three parts: a 2% community token sale to Zama NFT holders this week; an 8% sealed-bid Dutch auction with CoinList from January 21-24; and a final 2% sale at auction clearing price from January 27 to February 2. While CoinList is the main partner for the auction, the sale is not limited to that platform. Participants can also bid via Zama’s own auction app. The main auction will be conducted on Ethereum mainnet as a sealed-bid Dutch auction, with bids ranked from high to low, and the minimum price for token allocation being the clearing price paid by all successful bidders. The floor price is $0.005 per token, and with the total supply, the FDV is $55 million. CoinList President Scott Keto said this sale marks CoinList’s first fully on-chain, non-custodial token sale. The Zama auction is also a practical application of the protocol’s fully homomorphic encryption technology, which allows computation on encrypted data. Although the auction is on-chain, bids are kept end-to-end encrypted to prevent participants from seeing each other’s positions, while maintaining on-chain auditability.

Bitpanda plans to go public via IPO in Frankfurt in the first half of 2026, targeting a valuation of €4-5 billion

According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the matter say that crypto trading platform Bitpanda GmbH, supported by billionaire Peter Thiel, is preparing for an IPO in Frankfurt as early as the first half of 2026, with a valuation potentially between €4 billion and €5 billion. Bitpanda has hired Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank to arrange the IPO, which could list in Q1 2026. The final decision and details, including timing, are still subject to change. A Bitpanda spokesperson said the IPO is one of several options for further growth but declined to comment further. Representatives from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank also declined to comment. Founded in 2014, Bitpanda offers retail trading in cryptocurrencies, stock derivatives, and commodities. In August 2021, it raised $263 million from investors including Thiel’s Valar Ventures, valuing the company at $4.1 billion. It has 7 million users and is an official crypto trading partner of Arsenal FC.

“1011 insider whale” currently with unrealized gains exceeding $47 million, holding a total position of $8.45 billion

According to OnchainLens, after all market fluctuations, the “1011 flash crash insider whale” now has an unrealized profit of over $47 million. The total position value is $8.45 billion: 203,341 ETH (worth $675 million); 1,000 BTC (worth $95 million); 511,612.85 SOL (worth $74 million).

Coinbase to list Raydium(RAY) spot trading

According to official announcement, Coinbase will list Raydium(RAY) spot trading. If liquidity conditions are met and trading regions are compliant, the RAY-USD trading pair will start trading at 01:00 on January 15, Beijing time. Raydium(RAY) will be available on coinbase.com, the Coinbase app, and Coinbase Advanced. Institutional users can buy Raydium (RAY) directly through Coinbase Exchange. The token supports the Solana network (SPL tokens).

U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee reschedules crypto bill hearing to January 27

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee plans to release its crypto market structure bill on January 21, with a key hearing on the bill text scheduled for January 27. The originally scheduled hearing on January 15 (postponed on Monday) will now start at 15:00. The bill revision hearing is a key step in legislative progress, allowing senators to debate amendments and vote on whether to include them in the core text, then vote on whether to send the entire bill to the Senate floor. The Senate Banking Committee will hold its own bill revision hearing this Thursday. The draft bill from the Banking Committee was published around midnight Monday, but senators are expected to propose amendments before the hearing. Since the initial draft was released, the Agriculture Committee has not published a bill text. Pending issues include ethical standards clauses (related to President Trump, his family, and multiple crypto firms) and quorum rules (requiring bipartisan leadership of SEC and CFTC). Currently, both agencies have only Republican members. Sources say the Banking Committee’s bill also lacks clauses on ethics or quorum, so the current version may lack bipartisan support.

Bitmine again stakes 92,160 ETH, worth $2.93 billion

According to Onchain Lens, Bitmine has further staked 92,160 ETH (worth $293 million). To date, they have staked a total of 1,436,384 ETH, valued at $4.77 billion.

BTC breaks through $96,000, up 2.72% intraday

Ouyi OKX market shows BTC just broke through $96,000, currently at $96,000.00 per BTC, with an intraday increase of 2.72%.

BTC breaks through $95,000, up 1.95%; ETH surpasses $3300, up 4.09% intraday

Ouyi OKX market shows BTC just broke through $95,000, now at $95,276.50, up 1.95%. ETH just surpassed $3300, now at $3,314.51, up 4.09%.

Crypto-friendly bank Old Glory plans to go public via SPAC, valuation at $250 million

According to Bloomberg, Old Glory, a crypto-friendly bank based in Oklahoma, plans to go public via a SPAC merger with Digital Asset Acquisition Corp., with an estimated valuation of $250 million. The deal includes $176 million in SPAC funds and at least $50 million in private placements. Old Glory aims to fully integrate crypto assets into traditional banking, planning to list on Nasdaq under the ticker “OGB.”

Coinbase opens trading of Jupiter (JUPITER) tokens for New York residents

According to Coinbase Markets, Jupiter (JUPITER) is now available for trading by New York residents, who can buy, sell, convert, store, and transfer the token via the website and mobile app. Coinbase holds a virtual currency license from the New York State Department of Financial Services.

CoinGecko seeks to sell at about $500 million valuation, hires Moelis as advisor

According to CoinDesk, CoinGecko is exploring a sale and has hired investment bank Moelis to handle the process, targeting a valuation of around $500 million. This move comes amid accelerating M&A activity in the crypto industry, with total disclosed M&A deals reaching $8.6 billion and 133 transactions in 2025. Founded in 2014, CoinGecko is a leading data platform alongside CoinMarketCap.

SharpLink staking yields reach 500 ETH last week, total rewards surpass 11,000 ETH

According to SharpLink, last week it earned 500 ETH in staking rewards on Ethereum, with total staking rewards since inception reaching 11,157 ETH.

YO Protocol experiences abnormal swap transaction, about $3.84 million stkGHO exchanged for only $122,000 USDC

According to BlockSec, YO Protocol on Ethereum experienced an abnormal swap event where users exchanged about $3.84 million stkGHO for only about $122,000 USDC. The incident was caused by two factors: 1) the initiator submitted an incorrect estimated output, causing slippage protection to fail; 2) the transaction path involved high-fee, low-liquidity pools, resulting in significant fee extraction and price impact. The team has bought GHO and re-deposited stkGHO to attempt remediation.

YZi Labs invests tens of millions of dollars in Genius Trading, CZ joins as advisor

According to The Block, YZi Labs, founded by Binance co-founder CZ and He Yi, has invested tens of millions of dollars in Genius Trading, with CZ also joining as an advisor. Genius aims to build a privacy-first on-chain trading platform offering spot, perpetual contracts, and copy trading, targeting to become a decentralized “Binance.” The platform has processed over $60 million in trading volume during testing and plans to launch a privacy protocol test in Q2 2026.

Spot gold surpasses $4620 per ounce; spot silver up over 3% intraday

Spot gold has risen above $4620 per ounce, up 0.51% intraday. Spot silver surged over 3.00%, currently at $87.71 per ounce.

Robinhood launches DOT trading

Official website shows Robinhood has launched DOT (Polkadot) spot trading.

Polygon Labs acquires Coinme and Sequence for over $250 million

According to Fortune, Polygon Labs announced the acquisition of two crypto startups, Coinme and Sequence, for over $250 million to strengthen its stablecoin payment network. Coinme holds remittance licenses in multiple US states and focuses on crypto ATM infrastructure; Sequence provides wallet and on-chain infrastructure services. Polygon states this move is a “reverse benchmark” to Stripe’s stablecoin strategy, aiming to build a complete on-chain payment stack.

U.S. December unadjusted CPI annual rate at 2.7%, core CPI at 2.6%

U.S. December unadjusted CPI annual rate was 2.7%, matching expectations and previous 2.7%. Core CPI for December was 2.6%, slightly below expectations of 2.7%, and unchanged from previous 2.6%.

Spot silver up over 2% intraday, now at $86.85 per ounce

Spot silver rose over 2.00% intraday, now at $86.85 per ounce. COMEX silver futures rose above $87, up 2.24% for the day.

Binance Alpha launches “Laozi” and “Black Horse” tokens

The app page shows Binance Alpha has launched the “Laozi” and “Black Horse” tokens.

BlackRock transfers 3,290 BTC and 5,692 ETH to Coinbase address

According to Onchain Lens, BlackRock has transferred 3,290 BTC (about $3.03 billion) and 5,692 ETH (about $178.2 million) to a Coinbase address.

Huobi HTX condemns Flow project’s unilateral transfer of FLOW assets: harms user rights and contradicts decentralization

Huobi HTX issued a statement regarding Flow (FLOW) project’s unilateral transfer of assets. It states that on December 27, 2025, due to a protocol-level vulnerability, a large amount of FLOW was illegally minted. After the incident, the platform verified the situation with the project team, confirmed anomalies, and cooperated with risk management and on-chain tracking. Suspicious fund flows are monitored, and hacker-related assets are restricted to prevent further market inflow, protecting user interests. However, the Flow team, without sufficient communication with exchanges and users, initiated an “Isolated Recovery” plan, forcibly transferring FLOW assets from centralized exchange addresses including Huobi HTX via protocol permissions, and plans to destroy them on January 30, 2026. Huobi HTX emphasizes that the assets forcibly transferred and planned for destruction include large amounts obtained through legitimate market trading by ordinary users. The behavior of the Flow project team deviates from decentralization and clear property rights principles, setting a poor industry example and severely damaging platform and user assets. Huobi HTX urges Flow to adhere to decentralization, respect user and exchange rights, distinguish between illegal minting and legitimate holdings, publish a complete auditable post-mortem, and resolve issues through active negotiation rather than unilateral technical measures.

Binance Alpha to list Sight and OWL airdrops

Binance Alpha will list the Empire of Sight (Sight) airdrop on January 14; Owlto Finance (OWL) airdrop on January 15. Eligible users can claim the airdrops via the Alpha activity page after trading opens, using Binance Alpha points. Details will be announced separately.

Polygon has burned over 12.5 million POL since early 2026; Polymarket is a major fee contributor

According to Castle Labs, Polygon has generated over $1.7 million in fees since early 2026 and burned more than 12.5 million POL tokens (about $1.5 million). The fee surge is mainly due to Polymarket enabling fee collection for 15-minute prediction markets, bringing in over $100,000 daily for Polygon. The Dandeli hard fork increased chain throughput to 20 mgas/sec, alleviating gas pressure.